


Sucker

by ElarianaSky



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Bullying, Christmas, College, M/M, Slow Burn, Smut, Summer Parties, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-23 17:22:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21323872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElarianaSky/pseuds/ElarianaSky
Summary: Baekhyun has been avoiding his high school bully unsuccessfully for two years. Now that he's in college, he thinks he just got rid of Oh Sehun, the guy that always made fun of him because he was gay. College meant freedom and that meant that Baekhyun could totally be himself and he wouldn’t get any beatings or insults for it. But he wasn’t that lucky and won't get rid of his past easily because Oh Sehun was his new annoying roommate.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Oh Sehun
Comments: 6
Kudos: 58
Collections: round 1。





	Sucker

High school had been difficult. That much anyone could tell, at least if Baekhyun told people his story. First two years, fine, whatever. Junior and senior year however? The absolute _ worst _. Baekhyun thought it was a miracle that he was even alive. But that was all in the past now, his future was what mattered most now and it held him going to Kyung Hee University. 

And his college years was going to be without Oh Sehun and his dumbass gang. 

“College is gonna be great Baek,” Minseok said, legs dangling from Baekhyun’s windowsill.

“Yeah? I wonder if I’ll find any cute guys.” Baekhyun replied, setting a box down before placing whatever he needed into it.

“Oh for sure. They also won’t give a shit.”

“Meaning?” Baekhyun paused, looking at his friend.

“You can do anything you want. Within reason of course, but no one’s gonna care much.” 

“So I can be myself without worrying about the consequences?” He asked, intrigued.

“Definitely. You’re not gonna get bullied for being gay, you shouldn’t anyways.”

“Yeah, try telling that to Mr. Dickface.”

“Don’t worry, he’s out of your life so he’s never gonna bother you anymore.” Minseok grinned and Baekhyun returned it.

“And boy am I fucking glad about that. No more bullying, no more taunting, no more abuse, no more Sehun! What a wonderful life I have ahead of me. But of course, it would be even better if I get a boyfriend.”

“Of course. You’ve been single how long?”

“Practically my whole life. No I don’t count dating that one girl from elementary school. What was her name again?”

“No idea, but it doesn’t matter. That was years ago. She was cute though.”

“Yeah… at least to the standards of a seven year old.” Just then Minseok’s phone rang and he excused himself to answer it. Baekhyun continued to pack his things and by the time he was done with another box, Minseok returned.

“Hey, Junmyeon called,” He announced as soon as he entered the room.

“Really? What’d he say?” Baekhyun asked, glancing at his friend as he set the box aside.

“There’s a party this weekend to celebrate summer beginning. He invited us.”

“Oh, sounds cool! Yeah, I’ll go.”

“Great. I’ve gotta go now, got things to do, so I will see you at the party then.” Minseok smiled and Baekhyun returned it.

“See you then.” They did their handshake, fistbump, high five, finger gun combo before Minseok left Baekhyun to finish packing, as he wanted to start early. 

The night of the party neared and Baekhyun saw it as an opportunity to meet Junmyeon’s college friends and maybe, hopefully, find a cute guy. And because of that, he donned on the cutest outfit he owned, vowing to buy more over the summer so he could go to college looking good, at least compared to his high school self. The outfit for the party consisted of black skinny jeans and a red and black plaid shirt. He was also going to need contacts too, he didn’t like his square glasses much anymore. Baekhyun saw himself in his mirror as he left and paused, going back to take a better look. “I don’t look too terrible… but maybe I could do with some moisturiser.. Skincare? Skincare yeah… I could get into that.” He murmured to himself. “Hey mom?” He called out.

“Yes Baekhyun?”

“Um, can I borrow your lotion?”

“My what?”

“Your lotion!”

“Sure honey, it’s in the bathroom!”

“Thank you!” Baekhyun quickly walked to the master bedroom and went through the door to the bathroom, turning on the lights. He grabbed the lotion his mom used daily and slathered some onto his face and hands, not enjoying the stinging sensation it gave him though, but definitely enjoying the nice scent it gave. He examined the bottle to know what the scent was. “Lavender. Cute, I’m a fan.” Setting the bottle down, he left the bathroom, going back to his room to grab his wallet and phone before leaving the house, telling his mom that he was going to Junmyeon’s place for a party and would return later.

Junmyeon’s party was already in full swing by the time Baekhyun got there. His friend lived in a pretty big house and going to a party of his also meant bouncers, something which Baekhyun had no trouble with thankfully. “Hey Jungyoo, how’s it going?” He greeted Junmyeon’s bouncer. 

“Hey Baekhyun, long time no see. It’s been good! Hope you enjoy yourself inside,” Jungyoo said with a smile.

“Thanks, I hope you get to as well. See you!”

Jungyoo waved as Baekhyn headed into the house where music was blasting loudly through his home speakers. It was already packed and Baekhyun knew it would take him a while to find his friend so he settled for texting him instead, finding out that he was outside. “Hey Baekhyun! It’s so good to see you, it’s been like a whole year.”

“It has! I didn’t think you’d throw another one of these parties or even invite me.”

“Not invite you, the life of the party? Please, you can’t be serious.” Junmyeon waved a hand.

“Aww, that’s nice of you to say. But how’ve you been? Uni treating you well? Got any tips for me?” Baekhyun asked, shoving his hands into his pockets. 

“I’ve been alright for the most part honestly. Uni’s going well too, but that shouldn’t be a surprise.”

“You’ve gotten all straight A’s haven’t you?”

“You know it. And honestly, the only tips I have for you is just to know when your deadlines are, whether it’s for homework, group projects, assignments, assessments, whatever. Also answering whatever questions you get from the professor as detailed as possible. And pay attention, if you pay attention to the lectures, and take detailed notes, things shouldn’t be too tough.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.”

“Well yeah, but it’s worth it. You can’t get anywhere if you don’t work your ass off.” Junmyeon pointed out.

“True, that’s very true.” The conversation continued on until Junmyeon’s attention was taken by someone else. Baekhyun headed back into the house, making his way to the kitchen where he grabbed a styrofoam cup and poured himself a glass of cider. He heard an upbeat song begin to play, probably a new comeback from a group, and as he sipped his drink he bobbed his head to the beat. 

Baekhyun felt a little awkward as he stood, ignoring some of the couples there that were making out near him, but then the feeling left when he caught sight of Minseok walking towards the kitchen. “Hey Minseok!”

“Oh hey Baekhyun, you made it!”

“Yes I did!”

“Are you enjoying yourself?”

“Eh, the party isn’t that exciting, so it’s alright. Mostly awkward though.”

“Well I am here to keep you company, which means that things should be less awkward, yeah?”

“Of course.” Baekhyun grinned and the two moved to the dining room where there weren’t many people and the two drank their drinks and talked for a couple hours. Just like Junmyeon though, Minseok had his attention taken away by his other friends and he left Baekhyun alone. Sighing, he pulled out his phone and began to go through his social media.

“Hey fellas look! If it isn’t the gay bitch. How’s it going man, are you enjoying yourself, gaybie?” Baekhyun froze in his seat as soon as he heard that familiar voice, closing his eyes shut. 

“What do you want Sehun?”

“Not much, I am glad to see my favourite little gay idiot after graduation though. I wonder if I’ll get to see you more often?” Sehun replied, sitting on the dining table in front of Baekhyun. “Though I think it would’ve been better if the world didn’t have to see your stupid ugly face. No one wants a gay pile of shit in their homes.” his cronies laughed and Baekhyun looked down, annoyed. “Does Junmyeon hyung know? That he’s got someone who’s gay in his home?”

“No,” Baekhyun said quietly.

“What was that?” Sehun tauntingly leaned closer to Baekhyun. “I didn’t hear you. What did you say?”

“I said no. He doesn’t.” Baekhyun’s fist was clenched now and he looked up at Sehun. 

“Oohoohoo. Should we tell him boys? Let him know what Baekhyun really is?” Sehun asked looking back at his gang who started nodding and agreeing. 

“No. Sehun, please don’t.” Baekhyun said realising what could happen. Junmyeon was extremely religious and that meant that there was no chance of Baekhyun remaining friends with him. 

“Awww and why not? Does the little gay boy know of the consequences of what could happen?” Sehun said in a baby voice. 

“Why are you picking on me now of all times? Can’t you just fuck off and leave me alone?” Baekhyun asked instead. 

“I would, I really would. And I say that honestly. But I also say this honestly, picking on you and taunting you is more fun than what this party or any party could ever offer. Isn’t that right boys?” 

“Damn right it is, haha.”

“Oh yeah, you’re not wrong there.” 

The others nodded and agreed.

“See? So, be a good sport and deal with the taunts okay? You can do that right? Or has the fact that you’re gay fucked you up in the head?” Sehun tilted his head and Baekhyun had it. He pulled back and socked Sehun square in the face before making a run for it. “That bastard! After him!” Sehun cried out, clutching his nose. 

Baekhyun did his best to swerve the people at the party, trying to make his way out to the backyard. “Hey Baekhyun! Where-“

“Can’t talk, sorry bye!” Baekhyun said as he ran past Junmyeon and Minseok. He ran through the backyard and opened the fence door making his way out. He ran and ran until he reached the main road, from there he hailed a taxi, quickly telling the driver to take him home as fast as possible. Baekhyun looked through the window to find a couple of Sehun’s cronies run out onto the main road but stop. He lost sight of them as they turned around the corner, and he sank down into the seat, out of breath but relieved that he had the guts to punch Sehun and was able to escape. 

“That fucker! He punched me in the face and got away too!” Sehun said irritated as Junmyeon tended to his bloody nose. 

“I’m sorry Hunnie. You’re bleeding quite a lot jeez.” He did his best before he began to put away whatever he got out of his first aid kit. “I don’t understand why you’re so hellbent on picking on Baekhyun anyways, the kid hasn’t even done anything.”

“Wait, you mean you don’t know?” Sehun asked, eyebrows raised. 

“Know what?”

“Oh man, do I have-“

“Ahem!” Sehun was cut off by Minseok clearing his throat. The younger looked over and found him glaring. “I don’t think what you know is your business to tell, Oh Sehun.” He said sharply. 

“Right. Okay, never mind. But, Junmyeon hyung, if you do want to know, you can always ask Baekhyun himself. He’ll gladly tell you.” Sehun smiled sweetly. 

“O..kay…” Junmyeon said slowly as he put the first aid kit away. “I’m gonna go downstairs and check on the guests. Try not to do anything else stupid while I’m gone.” He said before leaving the bathroom. 

“You picked on Baekhyun again didn’t you?” Minseok asked as soon as Junmyeon left. 

“What does it matter? He punched me in the face before he left.”

“Gee, I wonder why he did that,” Minseok replied sarcastically. “Maybe if you’d left the guy alone, you wouldn’t have this bloody nose. Idiot.” He turned away, leaving Sehun to scowl at his back. Sighing, he sat back on the toilet, looking up at the ceiling. 

That was the last time Baekhyun decided to leave the house. The only times he did, it was with his mom and he covered himself as much as possible and requested for his mother to act as if she was shopping alone if any one of Sehun’s friends came by.

“But honey why?” His mother asked as they walked into the mall.

“Just please do this for me. I’ll do all of the chores for the rest of this month if you just do this for me,” Baekhyun said imploringly.

“Oh alright.”

Baekhyun smiled as he put up his mask and followed his mother into the building. 

He and his mother looked for new clothes to wear and try on, and enjoyed their time for a while until she was approached by two of Sehun’s friends.

“Hello, Mrs. Byun,” one of them greeted kindly, which was unlike them. 

“Oh hello dears, how are you two doing today?” She asked with a smile. 

“Good, we’re doing good, and you?”

“I’m doing well myself, thank you.”

“So are you shopping alone or..?”

“Yes I am, I needed to get out of the house and also get new clothes, so here I am.” Mrs. Byun smiled. 

“I see. Ooh, that top looks lovely, you should try it!” The two continued to talk to her as a few others of Sehun’s group walked past them with their heads bowed so she wouldn’t recognise them. 

The group headed to the men’s section of the store, splitting up to search for a particular 5’5 young man. 

Baekhyun was in the fitting room finishing trying on some new clothes and he put his original outfit on, making sure his face was completely covered excluding his eyes before he left the room. He noticed one of Sehun’s friends and immediately broke into a sweat. _ Relax. They don’t know it’s you. You’re covered from head to toe, unless they look at your eyes too much, they won’t recognise you. _He told himself as he made his way to the cashier. As the cashier scanned the clothes, Baekhyun kept looking about the store, trying to be as discreet as possible, counting how many of Sehun’s little gang was present. He paid, and didn’t notice one of the cronies near him - near enough to hear Baekhyun say thank you before leaving. 

Baekhyun left the building but he wasn’t fast enough, as two of Sehun’s friends, grabbed him by his arms, making him drop his bags full of clothes and began to pull him towards a secluded area. He was shocked and struggled to break free.

“Oh no you don’t, you piece of shit,” One of the cronies said, tightening his grip on poor Baekhyun. Once they reached the secluded area, they tossed Baekhyun in front of them and immediately pounced.

“You’re a real fucking piece of garbage for doing that to Sehun at the party you know that?!” Another one cried, kicking Baekhyun.

“How dare you even lay a hand on Sehun, you dirty bastard?” A third said, also kicking him. 

“What else would I have done?! Just eat up his insults like they’re food?!” Baekhyun cried, rolling away. 

“Exactly. That was the worst thing he could do, this is the worst we wanna do.” They continued to beat Baekhyun up, berating him and going as far as to calling him slurs that made Baekhyun want to vomit. But he did his best in fighting back and was able to escape. He ran as fast as he could towards the entrance of the building, grabbing the bags with his clothes and then continuing to run to the main road. He looked behind him to see that Sehun’s friends weren’t far behind. Baekhyun was breathing hard now but he refused to stop, urging himself to run faster and harder, turning around as many corners as he could in an attempt to lose them. He entered a building at random and asked for the restroom, going there quickly and locking the door. Baekhyun was out of breath, sinking to the bathroom floor, his legs burning from all the running. He didn’t pay attention to anything except his breathing and heart rate. When he was calm, he looked at himself.

His clothes had become dirty and torn here and there, there were already faint bruises forming on his skin in multiple areas and there were scratches on his hands. He stood, scared to see what he looked like in the mirror. And when he looked, it wasn’t too awful, but it still wasn’t pleasant. A split lip, the mask was gone as was his hat, and he had a bloody nose too. _ How nice. _ He thought. _ They did me up real good just because I punched Sehun once. _ Inhaling, he went to grab as many tissues as he could and then began to clean his face to the best of his ability. It hurt a lot but he took in the pain silently and when he deemed himself clean enough, he threw all of the tissues away. It was a miracle that he was able to run all the way to this building along with the clothes he bought. The bags created marks on the palms of his hands from their weight but he knew they would be gone the next day. His other injuries however…

Baekhyun left the bathroom and the store as well, unable to thank the worker that told him where the bathroom was since they were gone. He took a taxi back home, thinking of what he’d have to do next.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, Baekhyun stayed shut in his room, refusing to speak to his mother, who saw the terrible condition he was in from the day at the mall, feeling terrible, and continuing to pack up for university. His mother grew visibly upset the more Baekhyun ignored her and finally she couldn’t take it anymore.

“Baekhyun-ah…” She knocked on his door.

“Go away.” Baekhyun grumbled.

“Baekhyun please let me in, I just want to talk to you.”

“No.”

“I’m not going to be leaving this spot until you let me in.”

“I don’t care.”

“Do you like hearing me be upset?”

Silence. Finally Baekhyun opened the door and was immediately engulfed into a hug. No matter how much he ignored her, he couldn’t deny that he loved her hugs. They were always warm and comforting, and it was something to remind him that she would always be there for him no matter what. “I’m sorry, it’s just…”

“Don’t worry about it Baekhyun. Things happen, I knew I should’ve stayed by your side. Are you gonna leave home soon?” She asked, breaking away and looking at all of the boxes he had packed and ready.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be able to stick around here much longer. If I do, something terrible could happen.” He said, sitting on his bed.

“Okay. Whatever you do from now on, I just want you to be safe, okay? You know the rules, don’t drink, don’t party too much, focus on your studies and be kind.” She sat down next to him, pulling him into another hug, stroking his hair.

“I know. Thanks mom. I’m gonna miss you and your food.”

“If you want, I can send you some food whenever.” She offered.

“No, that’s okay. I’ll visit. I won’t forget to.”

“That’s always a better option. I love you Baekhyunnie, and if anything happens to you, don’t hesitate to call me, okay? Anything at all.” She kissed the top of his head and Baekhyun hugged her tighter.

“Will do. I’m not leaving tomorrow, next week, but I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Okay. Get some rest. If you need me to get you anything else from the store, let me know, alright?”

“Alright. Goodnight mom.”

“Goodnight Baekhyun. Sleep well.” His mom stood up. “And… one more thing.”

“Yes?”

She hesitated for a moment before speaking. “Whatever you believe in or whoever you like… it shouldn’t matter to me. And I will try my best to make sure it doesn’t, because you are still my baby. Even if you are going to college, you’re still my little boy who just so happens to be… a little different from the other boys,” She said carefully. “A mother’s love shouldn’t end because of that little factor that makes her child different.”

Baekhyun was shocked but he was happy. Very much so. “Thank you. Thanks mom, seriously, it means a lot. I love you.”

“I love you too Baekkie. Now go to sleep. It’s getting late.” She smiled before closing the door behind her. Baekhyun fell back onto his bed, happy that at least one parent approved of his likes in people. 

The week for Baekhyun to leave came but that didn’t stop from Sehun’s cronies to come over to his house and be a nuisance. His father found it amusing while the rest of the family did not. But they would stop soon, since Baekhyun was gone from his home and instead in a dorm. 

“Hey Mrs. Byun. Is Baekhyun inside today?” One of Sehun’s many friends asked.

“Oh, no he’s not. He’s left.”

“Left? Where’d he go?”

“To university. Yeah, he won’t be back until winter I believe.” She gave them a fake sympathetic smile.

“Ah, I see. D’you know which university?”

“Um, no. I don’t. Sorry. He didn’t tell me, don’t know why, but it’s fine. Have a good day boys, I’ll let him know you stopped by.” She waved before going back inside.

“What do those kiddos want?” Mr. Byun asked entering the room.

“Oh nothing, just wondering where Baekhyun went.”

“Did you tell them?”

“I did but vaguely.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, they asked which university he was at but I didn’t tell them which one.”

“Why not? They’re not gonna do him any harm, he needs good friends. I’ll go tell them for you.”

“Wait! No, it’s fine, Baekhyun will make new friends-”

“-and he can start with these boys over here.” Mr. Byun smiled before leaving the house to go after Sehun’s cronies and letting them know which university Baekhyun was at. Mrs. Byun felt bad so she quickly went upstairs to the phone and called Baekhyun, letting him know of the situation, and telling him that he needed to stay safe.

Baekhyun was disappointed in his father but he kept to his mother’s warning and advice, staying shut in his dorm. He already knew though, that Sehun’s friends wouldn’t be allowed to come in unless they were attending the university, and as far as he remembered from the teachers asking them, none of them were attending any university at all.

The rest of the summer passed without much excitement. Baekhyun unpacked everything he’d brought with him, making sure he didn’t leave anything in the box. As the new school year neared, he grew excited. “Finally, I’ll be able to do things my way and the way I like it. I’ll have a cool roommate who’ll be someone I’ve never met, I’ll choose all my classes and hopefully enjoy them all, and I hope to find the man of my dreams within the next four years.” He told himself giddily.

Minseok texted him a few times during the summer and the last time he did was for an invite to an end-of-the-summer bash. Of course Baekhyun was going to go, and he was going to try his hand at the new clothes he’d bought months ago yet didn’t get around to wearing since he rarely left his dorm. He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d wear but eventually he decided on a button up white shirt that didn’t button up all the way and a pair of mildly worn blue jeans. Since he wanted to change from his high school self, he decided to go the extra mile and dye his hair a dark golden brown. 

When the night of the party came around, he was practically unrecognisable. “Hey, you look new. What’s your name?” Minseok asked him with a smile.

“Hyung, it’s me, Baekhyun!”

“Wait- really? Wait, shit it is you! Oh wow, I didn’t even recognise you! What- ohhhh you dyed your hair!” He exclaimed, moving them a bit into a clearer light.

“Yeah! Looks good, right?”

“A hundred percent. I’ll talk to you in a bit, you go head inside.”

“Alright, see you!” Baekhyun entered his home with the party already going on. He wondered what it would be like to be the first person to enter a party that was supposed to happen. It would probably be awkward until more people came.

The house was packed full of young adults, all probably in college, and all of them probably a friend of Minseok’s which Baekhyun found admirable. He couldn’t deny though, the chances of them knowing him had to be due to the fact that he played football and was on his university’s team. 

“You should be a professional football player.” Baekhyun told Minseok when he finally had free time to talk.

“What, me? No way, I’m not that great.”

“I’ve seen some of your games, you’re actually not that bad. I mean, you’re good enough to be popular and have a lot of people at your university know you.” Baekhyun accepted the drink Minseok offered him and he shrugged in response.

“I think I’m okay at most, I could definitely be better though.” He took a gulp of the drink before asking Baekhyun about what he wanted to do in uni. The conversation continued and Baekhyun had only two drinks before he was already drunk. 

Sehun was at the party as well, his nose fine by now, and this time he was without his friends, instead trying to make new ones while he too drank until he was drunk. Baekhyun was led to the middle of the living room floor that’d become a makeshift dance floor by Minseok and the two danced. Minseok wasn’t drunk so he made sure to keep an eye on Baekhyun while still enjoying himself. But his attention was taken away by someone else and Baekhyun was left dancing alone - until he bumped into someone, nearly falling. He was caught though, by a pair of two strong arms. “Oh- sorry-” Baekhyun mumbled, turning around. It was dark and the flashing lights didn’t help with seeing who he bumped into. 

“No, it’s okay, I didn’t see you there.” In Baekhyun’s muddled state of mind, he was able to figure out that whoever this guy was, he was probably really attractive. What was clear was that he was definitely buff.

“You’ve got… some really nice… arms…” Baekhyun trailed off.

“You think so?”

“Yeah…” He ran his hands up and down his arms.

“I mean I have been working out a bit this summer so… guess I’m glad it paid off… You seem a little buff yourself.”

“Me? Nah.. I rarely exercise. I’m more chubbier.. Well not really but my- er- family sometimes say I look like mochi.”

“You certainly feel like it.” 

“Yeah?”

“Definitely.” It was amazing how they were able to keep this conversation going with the music being this loud, but they managed. Eventually, Baekhyun and this stranger hunk left the dance floor, to go sit on the couch and talk… which led to them making out. Whoever this guy was, he was definitely a great kisser. Not that Baekhyun would know, since he never kissed another man before, but with him he liked it. 

One thing led to another and before Baekhyun knew it, he was being stripped of his clothes and marks were being left all over him in some dark bedroom of Minseok’s. None of this had happened to him before but the mystery man seemed to know exactly what he was doing. Every touch, kiss, and bite left Baekhyun a moaning mess but he thoroughly enjoyed it all. It was only a couple minutes later that he was overwhelmed with pleasure. 

To say that this was one of the best nights of his summer was an understatement. Every second spent with this mystery man was glorious and when it was over Baekhyun turned into a whiny, sweaty mess. “Eager for more already?” The mystery man asked.

“Can I help it? You felt so good inside of me that I want a second round.” 

The mystery man chuckled. “Alright, since you’re so insistent.” Baekhyun was giddy, pulling him closer and locking lips with him again. The second round came to a finish after a while and Baekhyun was exhausted, as was the mystery man. He’d collapsed onto Baekhyun who didn’t mind, instead running his hands through the sweaty hair of the man and pulling him gently up to kiss him messily. The two eventually passed out, from both the alcohol and exhaustion, the mystery man still on top of Baekhyun.

Sehun woke up, dazed, disoriented and confused. He found himself entangled with someone and realised that he was still in Minseok’s house from the night before, and it brought back memories of the previous night, which had consisted of him finding a cute sounding boy, making out with him before fucking him multiple times. He never got his name or knew what he looked like, but that didn’t matter since he did enjoy himself immensely. Before he could look behind him to see who the mystery boy was, his phone rang and he picked it up. “Hello? Yeah.. it’s me. Right now? Okay. Sure. Whatever, see you in a bit.” Sehun hung up and grabbed his clothes, accidentally taking the wrong shirt while doing so. He had a headache from the alcohol and wished he hadn’t drank, vowing himself that he wouldn’t but also silently knowing he would. Sehun left the house, bidding goodbye to Minseok who was awake and cleaning up the mess everyone had left behind. 

“Leaving already?” Minseok asked as soon as Sehun left the room. 

“Huh? Oh, yeah, my friends are telling me to go to this um new place in town? I dunno, but I’m heading off before university starts,” Sehun said, running his fingers through his already messy hair.

“Alright, take care then.”

“Will do. Oh, and hyung?”

“Hmm?”

“If you ever find out who the other guy in that room is, do you mind telling me? We uh.. Well lets just say we had a great night last night.”

“I see, yeah, alright I’ll let you know. See ya.”

“Bye.” Sehun left the house. Minseok was curious and went into the room Sehun had pointed at, finding a tuft of light brown hair peeking out from underneath the blankets. His curiosity only grew as he neared whoever was in the bed, but that curiosity quickly turned into shock when he lowered the blanket down, to see the face of the very last person he would’ve expected to have screwed Sehun. 

He couldn’t tell them, neither of them could know. This was going to be something kept from them for as long as possible.

Baekhyun woke up when it was close to noon, sitting up and yawning. He had no idea where he was, at least not until Minseok came into the room. “Ahhh! What the-“ Baekhyun yelled, covering up his body more. “What are you doing here?”

“I should be asking you that. You’re in my house you know.”

“Shit really..? Oh… right last night’s party…”

“I’m guessing you had one hell of a night didn’t you?” Minseok asked, tossing Baekhyun his clothes from the floor. 

“Yeah… yeah it was great. I think… I barely remember but I’m pretty sure it was. I never thought I’d end up having a one night stand but here I am… did the guy already leave?”

“He left hours ago, yep. Was one of the few people I don’t know personally, so I didn’t get his name or much anything else.” Minseok lied.

Baekhyun was too occupied with playing at his clothes to notice. “Oh that’s okay. It was a good night that’s all that matters I think. I should… probably get going… thanks for letting me sleep here.” He said as he put on his shirt.

“No problem. Do you wanna eat anything before you go?”

“Sounds like a good idea… something small will do.” 

“Okay.” Minseok left the room, closing the door behind him. Baekhyun could suddenly remember vividly how everything had felt last night. The mystery man was buff and strong, with defined abs and body. He kissed well, and the screwing was a bonus. Baekhyun wanted to find out who this man was and hoped that he would eventually. 

Summer was officially over and classes were about to start soon. Students were coming into the university, many of them already accustomed to their friends and the campus itself, while there were kind of obvious new kids who looked lost more than anything. 

Baekhyun was in his dorm, drinking a bottle of banana milk when there was a knock on his door. He choked, realising that his new roommate was early. They were supposed to arrive later in the day but he guessed that they wanted to come in and tour the campus. 

Quickly wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt, he looked down and was disappointed with how messy he looked. Nonetheless, he patted his hair down and then walked over to the door, flourishing it open, eager to already make a new friend. 

“Hi! My name is Byun Baekhyun and you must be-“ he stopped short, the wide grin on his face fading. “No…”

“Oh! Well, well, well. If it isn’t my favourite little gaybie,” Sehun said, a grin on his face that made Baekhyun want nothing more to do than slap off. Sehun shoved Baekhyun aside, entering the dorm with his belongings. “I see that you’ve decorated this place very well.” Sehun said, eyeing the big rainbow flag that Baekhyun had pinned up the previous week. “It’d be more fitting if there was a giant red x over it though.”

“What are you doing here?” Baekhyun asked quietly. 

“I’m sorry? I didn’t quite hear that, my gay friend.”

Baekhyun closed his eyes in pain before asking again, in a louder voice. “I said, what the fuck are you doing here?” He opened his eyes, glaring at Sehun.

“Oh you don’t know?” Sehun stood up, standing in front of Baekhyun. “I’m your new roommate. That means, I get to spend the next four years living with the best gay fuck up in the world~” Sehun smiled. 

The older tried his best to keep his cool. He wanted to punch Sehun very badly but he resisted the urge. “Not unless I ask to change roommates,” he said instead.

“Don’t you have to give a little evidence or good reasoning as to why you want to though?”

“Yes. The evidence I have is you bullying me about being me!” 

“But they’re all words Baekhyunnie. What good are words when they can easily be twisted and manipulated?”

“I’ll find a way. Mark my words, I’ll find a way to change this.”

“Good luck, puny brain. I doubt you can come up with anything clever enough to work.” With that, Sehun took his things and headed into his section of the dorm. 

Baekhyun collapsed onto the couch, already tired. Just when he thought things were finally going to be okay, the universe decided that things were not going to be okay and instead Baekhyun was going to not only have a terrible high school experience but also a god awful college experience. 

To his surprise however, the first week wasn’t terrible. Despite Sehun and Baekhyun being roommates now, they both had different majors and schedules, which meant that the only time they’d actually come face to face with each other would be at night. But even then, both of them would be too occupied with homework to say anything to each other. Either way, Sehun made sure to taunt Baekhyun every time he saw him, and every time he did, Baekhyun ignored him. 

Things began to go peacefully. Baekhyun was occupied with his classes, determined to not fail any of them and to make sure to bring the best grades home. Chuseok came and went, Baekhyun leaving the dorms to go visit his family and tell them about his time at university. After Chuseok, he dyed his hair a strawberry red before returning to his dorms. He was lucky enough to have one free day all to himself and he spent his time finishing his homework in the morning before watching Netflix for the rest of the day. Sehun came back the following day and for the first time in two years that he was actually nice to Baekhyun. It made him suspicious but Baekhyun was polite back to him.

October came and went, and in that time Baekhyun met a handsome young man by the name of Zhang Yixing. The two became close quickly, exchanging numbers, hanging out, talking to each other frequently about a multitude of things. Baekhyun usually opted to go to Yixing’s dorm where they either studied or just talked. Sometimes Yixing told him about interesting things to watch, maybe a movie or a documentary and Baekhyun watched them. On the other hand, Baekhyun suggested different books Yixing could read and maybe take an interest to. It happened out of the blue, when Baekhyun needed to research a topic he knew nothing about, yet Yixing happened to know quite a bit. After indulging into the recommendations, they’d both spend afternoons and evenings talking about them, sometimes even continuing the conversation over text. 

During this time, Sehun kept himself occupied with school, making no effort to ignore what was once a silent, moody gay roommate, to now trying his best to tune him out. Baekhyun hummed and sang random songs as he either made food, did his homework, watched TV or something else. Because along with documentaries and movies came songs. And boy did Yixing know so many.

“See, when you want to be a film major like me, you get thrown into the world of music as well. Music wasn’t really my thing, but it did, unexpectedly,” Yixing said one late afternoon. The two were in Baekhyun’s dorm this time, hanging out in his room. 

“Was it a song that made you get into music?”

“It was. I can’t remember the song or who it was by unfortunately, but it was… I don’t know. I can’t describe the feeling exactly but it was really amazing. It was part of a movie’s soundtrack that I had to study in early high school. I was entranced and fascinated and I suddenly needed to know more.”

“Interesting. And from there, you just got more into music?”

“Yep. But also not a lot. I know a lot of songs but I couldn’t tell you specific things about the songs or other things, like the keys or what um.. Major? Is that a thing?”

“Yeah, major and minor keys and such. I don’t know much myself, I know piano, but that’s about it. Too bad I never continued it.”

“Why not?”

Baekhyun shrugged, leaning back onto his bed, laying down. “Lost interest.”

“Ah. Yeah, that tends to happen.” They silenced. Yixing moved away from the window and lay down next to Baekhyun.

“So you prefer documentaries over other movies?” Baekhyun said breaking the silence.

“Yeah. I don’t know why exactly though. Maybe because there’s one part knowledge and another part visual? Or realism? Or something? But definitely mainly knowledge.”

“But some films are knowledgeable too. Y’know, with morals and messages.”

“You’re right, but..” Yixing sighed. “I tried watching some movies before but it just wasn’t interesting enough. I guess it’s my fault though, considering that I always looked up and read the plot and some sites have it in a lot of detail, so it sums up the movie for me. There’s also some really embarrassing things the characters in the movie do though, it makes it hard for me to watch.” Baekhyun couldn’t help himself. He laughed at Yixing’s remark. “What? I’m serious! There’s so much embarrassing shit that goes on, it makes me cringe and want to crawl into a hole.” It only made Baekhyun laugh louder.

“You’re absolutely right, but I still think you should give some movies a try. Maybe, just maybe, if you watch with someone, it’ll be easier to watch!” Baekhyun suggested after calming down.

“Yeah, you’re right.” There was a pause. “Are you suggesting we watch a movie together?” Yixing asked looking over at Baekhyun.

“Perhaps.” Baekhyun smiled.

“Let’s do it. How about next weekend?” Yixing suggested, propping himself onto one hand.

“Next weekend sounds perfect.” Baekhyun replied, turning to face him. “I’ll choose, I’ve got some pretty good ones in mind that I think you’ll enjoy. And if you don’t, that’s okay, some movies aren’t for everyone.”

“Right. Okay, next weekend then. Sounds like a date.”

“A date?” Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. 

“A date.” Yixing smiled innocently.

“A date. Alright then. I’ll have the movies, you bring the snacks.”

“Deal.” 

And Baekhyun was beyond excited. This was going to be the first time he’d ever actually have a date with another man and he didn’t know what to do or think. He did tell Minseok though, who was excited for him. But besides him, no one else knew.

Well… excluding Sehun.

“A little birdy told me that you’re having a movie night tonight,” Sehun said when Baekhyun’s date day arrived.

“Yep,” Baekhyun replied curtly, making himself a cup of tea.

“What do you plan on watching?” 

“Just movies.”

“What about?”

“Things.” Baekhyun turned on the electric kettle that would boil his water quickly before spooning in honey and placing a tea bag into the mug. Sehun sighed lightly in response and it made Baekhyun glance up at him with an annoyed look. “Is there a problem?” He asked coldly.

“No. None at all.” Sehun sipped his own mug of coffee, watching Baekhyun tap his fingers as he waited for the kettle to finish boiling his water. “Just wondering why you gotta be so cold with me.”

“Gee, I wonder why. Maybe it’s because you hadn’t gotten off my back about me being gay for the past two years and now I have to suffer for the next four years with you being my roommate.” The kettle clicked, signifying that the water was done boiling. Baekhyun grabbed the kettle and poured into his mug. “Ugh, imagine living with a homophobe in this century! I hate that I can imagine it, because it’s my fucking reality.” In the midst of his anger, Baekhyun slammed the kettle down, forgetting it still had boiling hot water in it and the water jumped out and landed on Baekhyun’s hand, burning him. “Ow! Shit, fuck, ow! Move!” Baekhyun rushed over to the sink, turning the faucet on. 

“Are you okay?” Sehun asked setting his mug down.

“I’m fine.” Baekhyun shot back.

“You literally burned yourself--”

“I said I’m _ fine _!”

“Will you stop being a brat for five minutes and let me look?!” Sehun turned the faucet off, taking Baekhyun’s hand in his. There was already a noticeable size and feeling difference.

In Sehun’s hand, Baekhyun’s felt soft and gentle, making Sehun’s slightly panicked self relax. In Baekhyun’s hand, Sehun’s felt gentle yet also rough, and smooth, making him go from annoyed and angry, to calm but still a little tense. There was a red blotch where the hot water burned Baekhyun’s hand and Sehun lightly touched it.

“Ah! That hurts!” Baekhyun hissed, retracting his hand quickly.

“Sorry. Here, I’ve got something to help heal that fast.” He walked over to the fridge and pulled out a small tube that had a messy label with aloe vera written on it. 

“Are you sure that’s a good thing for me to use?” Baekhyun asked, moving his burned hand behind his back.

“Yes. I made this a while ago from actual aloe vera my mom got from the store. Used it ever since, and it actually works. Don’t worry, just trust me. You’ll be fine.”

“No offence, but you’re the absolute last person I’d want to trust with anything at all,” Baekhyun said. “I’ll just ask Yixing to buy me a bottle of aloe vera before he comes over and I’ll just use that.”

“So you’re gonna trust some guy over me, someone who’s known you for years?”

“Yes. And you wanna know why? It’s because Yixing doesn’t treat me as if I’m nothing, as if I’m a worthless piece of shit who just so happens to like men over women. He treats me as a human being which is what I am. Maybe if you did that, you’d be tolerable.” Baekhyun hissed. “Now move, you’re blocking the fridge.” Sehun obeyed, moving aside so he wouldn’t get punched. Baekhyun reached into the freezer, grabbing some ice cubes, closing the door and turning to wrap the cubes into a cloth before placing it onto his hand. “Thank god it’s the weekend…” He muttered as he set the cloth down to get his mug of tea and going to his room before returning for the makeshift ice pack. 

The rest of the day passed by in mostly silence, save for the times when Baekhyun either had the TV on or was humming. Sehun on the other hand, was in his room, gloomy. He hadn’t used any insults on Baekhyun as of late and he didn’t plan to anymore. But Baekhyun was still angry with him for the past. 

Sehun understood why but he still wished that maybe they could start over and become friends. He was definitely surprised though, that Baekhyun still hadn’t changed roommates. Maybe…? No. Sehun shook his head, instead focusing on finishing his essay.

Yixing came in the evening and he and Baekhyun enjoyed their night thoroughly, watching as many different movies as they could. It was three am when they finished and were exhausted. “I am so tired.” Yixing said yawning. 

“Yeah, me too. But those were some great movies, weren’t they?” Baekhyun asked, standing up to stretch his legs.

“Yep, they definitely were. I don’t wanna talk about them now, I gotta sleep. I should get going…”

“Aww. I mean… You could stay the night?” Baekhyun suggested tentatively.

“That sounds tempting… but I shouldn’t.” Yixing said, rubbing his eyes. 

“Not even one night?” Baekhyun asked with a pout.

“Ah see, now you can’t do that.”

“Do what?” Baekhyun tilted his head looking at Yixing innocently.

“No, no, nope. I’m not gonna stick around. You’re doing a very good job but I’m- nope.” Yixing turned, opening the door but he still looked back.

Baekhyun’s pout only grew, his eyes widening a little bit. “Please stay the night?”

“I’m not even good at fighting back. You got me, you got me good. Fine, I’ll stay tonight. But just one night!”

“Yes!” Baekhyun’s demeanor changed and he grinned. “Thank god you decided to wear casual clothes instead of-”

“Can you two shut up!? I’m trying to sleep, you’re so fucking loud.” Sehun said from his room. He was shirtless, only sporting a pair of sweatpants. 

“Oops, sorry er..” Yixing trailed off.

“Sehun. Go to sleep.” He slammed his door shut.

“Guess we were too loud.” Yixing whispered. “He’s pretty hot though.”

“Eh. He’s whatever. Come back inside, it’s time to sleep.” Baekhyun pulled Yixing back into his room, turning the lights off and then pulling him into bed. At this point, he wasn’t be secretive about wanting to snuggle with Yixing, fulling dragging him under the covers and immediately clinging onto him like a monkey.

“Aren’t you a clingy boy.” Yixing remarked with a smile that Baekhyun could faintly see.

“I can’t help it, it’s my nature.” Baekhyun replied. “Now shut up and sleep. I’m exhausted.”

“Okay, okay. Goodnight.” Yixing hugged Baekhyun back.

“Goodnight.”

It was safe to say that after that night, the two were inseparable. Baekhyun was finally dating someone and he was beyond ecstatic. He obviously told Minseok since he was the only one who knew and Sehun eventually found out through seeing Baekhyun and Yixing be together all the time, whether it was on campus or in their dorm. It got annoying fast, but Sehun kept the annoyance to himself. He’d already gave so much shit to Baekhyun in the past. One thing Sehun was glad for, was that his cronies from high school didn’t go to this university, which meant that Baekhyun wouldn’t be bullied at all anymore. Sehun had mostly stopped insulting Baekhyun but really threw the word gay or phrase gay boy around lightly, as a joke more than an insult. 

Baekhyun was practically in love with Yixing. Their first shared kiss had been incredibly sweet but very handsy, only to have Yixing find out that Baekhyun was quite ticklish. They continued to spend a lot of time still talking about books and documentaries but now, other movies were added to the mix, making their conversations almost never end. They grew to learn a lot about each other and their other interests, from food, to music, to pastime events. Yixing now often came to Baekhyun’s dorm to hang out, instead of Baekhyun going to his dorm. 

Sehun would either find them watching another thing on TV, talking in Baekhyun’s room, or just making out on the couch which had him even more annoyed. He’d often clear his throat or drop something to grab their attention and tell them to go to Baek’s room or do something else. Through this, Yixing learned of the animosity between Baekhyun and Sehun and one day when Sehun wasn’t at the dorm, did he ask Baekhyun about it.

“D’you think I should dye my hair again?” Baekhyun asked, playing with his fading strawberry red hair.

“You should, you’d probably look good.” Yixing answered, lounging on Baekhyun’s bed. 

“What colour should I do then?” 

“Hmm… what about blonde?”

“Oooh, blonde sounds nice! I’ll do blonde then.”

There was a moment of silence as Baekhyun continued to play with his hair. Eventually, Yixing broke the silence. “Hey Baekhyun?”

“Hmm?”

“What’s up between you and Sehun..? You rarely talk to him from what I’ve seen as of late and he’s your roommate isn’t he? What happened..?” Yixing asked. 

Baekhyun was silent. He stayed that way until Yixing began to speak but Baekhyun cut him off before he could. “Do you really want to know?” He asked, his voice lower and quieter. 

This alone made Yixing more concerned and he sat up before replying. “If you don’t mind that is… if it’s something you don’t wanna talk about, you don’t have to tell me it’s all up to you.”

“I’ll tell you. It happened two years ago, gonna almost be three. One of my friends back then and I spent a lot of time with each other and for some reason a lot of people equated it to other things. At first, we never knew because they said things behind our backs when we weren’t around. We weren’t anything but friends though, so I don’t know why they assumed shit when it wasn’t true. But then… it almost did.” Baekhyun sat down on the bed before continuing.

“He asked me out one day, out of the blue, and there happened to be people near us and I was so embarrassed that I rejected him in a not so nice way. Sehun and his friends were there and before they never cared about me or my friend. Not until that day.

“I rejected my friend in embarrassment and in a harsh manner before shoving him away and I ran off. Everyone was laughing. We didn’t speak to each other for weeks until finally before one of the school breaks, he stopped by my house. We hung out and there I found that he was moving elsewhere to finish his education and that he told me he couldn’t stand the bullying he was facing. It was a tough thing to convince his parents but he managed to after he one day got beaten up. By who… I don’t know. He never said. But nonetheless I felt awful. For everything. I apologised to him and wished I could turn back time and not be so mean. And I wish I could still have been his friend during a time when he had no one. But I was selfish and dealing with Sehun.” Baekhyun sighed, pausing for a short minute efore continuing.

“He forgave me. And that was the last I ever saw and heard from him. I don’t know where he is, where he went or if he’s even alive. I hope he is though. He was a really good friend. 

“Anyways, after that whole ordeal and after my friend left, I was the new target. Most people either ignored me or gave me dirty looks. Others called me names and pushed me around but I ignored them. Yet nothing could compare to the two entire years of bullshit I had to go through with Sehun and his stupid dumb friends. Taunting, bullying, verbal and mental abuse and I can’t even remember what else. The worst happened after this summer started, when they found me at the mall with my mom when I was shopping with her and then beat me up behind the store. I was able to escape but I was injured so badly. They then found my home and tried to taunt me and do more shit there but my mom was a barrier in the way and thank god for that. I still don’t know if Sehun sent those bastards but I don’t doubt that he did. So, now, here I am. And I’m gonna be stuck with Sehun for another four years.” Baekhyun finished, leaning against the wall. 

Yixing was stunned. He didn’t think this could be true but it had to be considering that Baekhyun told him with absolute sincerity. Sehun didn’t look like the type of guy to bully someone over who they liked but Yixing had been wrong. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all of that.” Yixing finally said. 

“Eh.” Baekhyun shrugged. “It’s okay now. Sehun hasn’t done shit to me most of the time here so I suppose it’s all good for now. So don’t worry. I’m also learning to fight back too. It helps a bit to be honest.”

“That’s good to hear. I-“ Yixing was interrupted by his phone ringing. “Oh no.”

“What is it?”

“I forgot I have to take an extra shift tonight.” Yixing sighed. 

Baekhyun softened and pouted, the mood changing abruptly. “You have to go?” 

“Yes unfortunately and I won’t be able to return for the rest of tonight. It’s a double shift too.” Yixing stood grabbing his things. 

“That sucks. I wish you didn’t have to go.” Baekhyun’s pout only deepened. 

“I know, I wanna stay and talk to you more but- hey don’t pout like that! Baekhyuuuun,” Yixing whined. “You can’t do that!”

Baekhyun stuck his bottom lip out fully. “Too bad.” 

“You’re such a baby.” He leaned down and kissed Baekhyun softly. “But I think you’re my baby.” He murmured. This made Baekhyun wrap his arms around his boyfriend and to pull him onto the bed to kiss him more and Yixing let him. But soon he broke away. “I’m sorry, I really have to go. I want to stay so badly but I can’t. I’m sorry, I really am.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry too much about it. Just text me when you can, about whatever. Okay?”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

“Good.” Yixing kissed him one last time before leaving the dorm. About a few minutes later, Sehun entered the dorm. He sauntered off to his room, closing the door shut, thinking about what Yixing just told him. It wasn’t threatening, it was really more of a warning. 

But it was something unnecessary as Sehun didn’t want to taunt or tease Baekhyun anymore. He only called him gay here and there and that was it. He didn’t want to do anything more, but he heeded Yixing’s warning nonetheless.

Time passed, and the end of the term neared. Exams were around the corner and Sehun wasn’t having an easy time studying. He needed help so he asked the teachers who helped him as best as they could but it wasn’t enough. He stayed up all night trying to memorise his notes and readings for one of the exams and didn’t think he got anything down. The morning after, Sehun entered the kitchen where he found Baekhyun making a cup of tea. Sehun was rubbing his eyes as he wandered about and bumped into him. 

“Hey! Watch where you’re going! You almost made me spill all my tea!” Baekhyun said, irritated.

“Sorry… I didn’t see…” Sehun said in a small voice, still rubbing his eyes.

“Then open your eyes next time.” Baekhyun snapped before he pushed Sehun away. 

“I don’t know how I can when I haven’t slept all night.” Sehun mumbled. He didn’t know if Baekhyun heard or not. But he did.

“And pray tell me why you haven’t slept all night? What were you doing?”

“Studying.”

“Stu- oh.” Baekhyun was surprised. “For exams?”

“Yeah.” Sehun shuffled over to the couch where Baekhyun was and flopped down. “I don’t think it helped though. I can barely remember anything I studied. I’m so exhausted.”

“Go nap. It might help you, all nighters never help with exams. At least you’re studying now, a week before the exams instead of the night before.” Baekhyun remarked.

“Yeah… but there’s so much stuff.” Sehun whined. “I want my mom.” He scooted over and sat up. “Can you help me?”

“No, I can’t be your mom.” Baekhyun said looking at him weirdly.

“No, not like that. I want you to help me study. Give… me advice and tips…” Sehun said.

“Okay. Well. You could always…” and so Baekhyun began to list off a bunch of tips for Sehun to help his studying, but Sehun heard only the first few before he nodded off. Halfway through his list, Baekhyun felt a weight on his shoulder which made him trail off and look over to see Sehun leaning against him, snoozing away. He was surprised but didn’t do anything, except grab his mug of tea and phone and get a little more comfortable. He let Sehun sleep on his shoulder for a couple hours, not doing much after finishing his tea. During that time, Sehun barely moved or made any noise, which worked in Baekhyun’s favour. The only time he did move was to put his arm around Baekhyun’s waist, and that was another action that surprised him. He removed the arm though, doing so gently and carefully, to not wake up his roommate. 

Eventually, Baekhyun grew bored and just as carefully and gently as earlier, he lifted Sehun up and set him back down on the couch before he made his way to the bathroom to shower. Once he was out, he went to the kitchen to grab snacks before heading to his room to begin studying. 

About an hour later, Sehun woke up. It was getting dark outside and there was only one light on in the dorm. Sehun was disoriented as he shuffled to the light and entered it, finding a bed and plopping onto it and immediately passing out. 

Baekhyun had no idea. He continued to study until his eyes drooped and he nodded off and yawned multiple times. Calling it a night, he shuffled blearily over to turn off his lights before crawling into his bed, unaware that it was already occupied. Nonetheless, he appreciated the warmth and snuggled closer to it as he passed out. 

Morning came and Sehun woke up, the light coming from outside blinding him a little. When his eyes adjusted to the brightness he looked around, surprised to find that he was not in his dorm room. Sehun tried to sit up but was stopped by a weight on him. It was only when he looked over and saw tufts of fading strawberry pink hair that he realised exactly where he was. 

In Baekhyun’s bedroom, the very last place he would’ve even thought to have been in. Sehun’s heart began to race as he removed Baekhyun’s arm from around him and slowly but carefully got out of his bed and stood, trembling slightly. Baekhyun couldn’t know anything. This was going to be a secret Sehun would try and maintain for as long as he possibly could. 

Baekhyun still didn’t know and went about his days not knowing, only studying for exams and hoping he’d do well. When the time called for it, he talked to Sehun with advice and tips in the university’s library, wondering why he even needed them when he should’ve known how to study for exams in high school. He eventually asked him.

“Why don’t you already know this stuff? Did you not study for any exams back in high school?” 

“I… No. I didn’t. Didn’t want to and didn’t bother to.” Sehun replied.

“How the hell did you even get accepted here? You need to have good grades to be able to attend this university you know.” 

“I got my answers from others.” 

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. “Your cronies?” 

Sehun tried to not laugh. “Is that what you call them?”

“Yeah, is there a problem with that?” 

“No, not at all. But yes, that’s where I got my answers. They took the exams before me and told me a majority of the answers and I-”

“Cheated.” Baekhyun finished for him, suddenly uninterested in helping.

“Ah, I wouldn’t call it cheating. Rather… selective learning.”

“Well you can take that selective learning and shove it up your ass.” Baekhyun growled, grabbing all of the stuff that was his.

“What? Wait- what do you mean? Why are you packing up?” Sehun asked surprised.

“I’m leaving. You can study on your own.”

“But why? I need your help!” Sehun exclaimed.

“Shut up! Do you want us to get kicked out of here?” Baekhyun hissed. 

“Ah- right sorry.” Sehun lowered his voice. “But why are you leaving?”

“Because I have no business helping you anymore when you have better methods. You’re lucky the teachers never found out.” Grabbing his bag, Baekhyun left the library, not waiting for Sehun’s reply. Sehun sat there, surprised. He didn’t think Baekhyun knew that his friends didn’t even go to this university, so they couldn’t help him if he wanted it. Deciding he wanted answers, he packed up his stuff and left the library as well. Sehun made his way to his dorm, hoping that was where Baekhyun was going. He picked up his pace to make sure that his hunch was right. 

Sure enough, a few minutes of jogging later, Sehun saw Baekhyun making his way to the dorms. His jog turned into a run as he went after Baekhyun, only being a few feet away by the time Baekhyun reached their dorm room.

Baekhyun entered and as he was about to shut the door, he caught sight of Sehun running towards him. “Oh for god’s sake-” He immediately began to close the door but Sehun was faster, pushing the door before it could fully close. Sehun caught his breath as Baekhyun shot him a glare before turning away. “You can’t leave me alone for five minutes?” Baekhyun asked, tossing his bag onto the couch.

“Nope. You could say I’m here to annoy you.” Sehun replied between breaths.

“Yeah, I think that much I managed to figure out before we even became roommates.” 

“But right now, that’s not what I want to do. I actually want answers.”

“And what do you mean by that?” Baekhyun asked, turning to Sehun arms crossed. 

He closed the door and tossed his bag onto the couch before speaking. “Why did you leave?”

“I told you, I’m not gonna help you anymore when you already have methods to “help” you pass your classes.” Baekhyun answered.

“You do realise that the guys from school don’t go to this uni, right?” Sehun asked.

“Yes. I was thankfully well aware of that before term even started.”

“So then how can you think I’ll go back to my old ways?”

“I don’t know! You’re Oh Sehun, you bullied me for two years straight and after the first year I thought I would be left alone but no! You came back with worse intentions as soon as school was back in session! In fact, those intentions were so much worse that you fucking sent your cronies to beat me up while I was out with my mom, not even harming anyone!” Baekhyun exclaimed, the pent up rage from that day finally being released.

“I- what? Wait, hold on, what are you talking about?” Sehun asked, surprised.

“Oh don’t act so shocked you prick. I was out with my mother shopping and after I was done paying for what I bought, your stupid friends attacked me, beating me up right behind the mall! And it wasn’t even just physical attacks but verbal ones too! Do you know what those garbage cans called me?!”

“No… Actually, Baekhyun, I don’t think I was even aware of this at all.” 

“Yeah, right, as if I’m supposed to believe that.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes before heading towards the closed door of his room, yet again, Sehun was faster, hand gripping the doorknob, preventing him from going inside. He sighed, and as they stood this close, Sehun could see how tired Baekhyun was. “Can you please move? I want to get into my room.”

“Not yet. I’m being serious about me not knowing about this situation that happened… when?”

“This past summer. After Junmyeon hyung’s party.” Baekhyun replied, looking up at Sehun and hating that he was taller than him, though he was two years younger.

“The one where you punched me in the face?” Sehun asked, tilting his head.

“The very one.”

“And you’re telling me, while you were out with your mom, my.. so called friends attacked you? But… did they say why?” 

“They said that it was payback for punching you in the face.” 

“Ah.” Was all Sehun could reply with, and he inhaled, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“What? Just ah? Is that all you’re going to say about this?” Sehun didn’t answer, simply letting go of the doorknob and rubbing his temples. “You fucking suck.” Baekhyun was annoyed all over again and he entered his room, slamming the door in Sehun’s face before locking it. 

“Baekhyun, can you open up please?” Sehun asked after a long moment of thinking. 

“No. You can fuck right off.” Baekhyun responded.

“Baekhyun… hyung please.” On the other side of the door, Baekhyun was frozen. It was the first ever time Sehun had ever called him hyung. He never really actually cared about whether or not he did, but this one time… Baekhyun couldn’t ignore it. He went over and unlocked the door, letting Sehun inside. 

“Alright. Talk. But make it quick, I don’t have all day.” Baekhyun said curtly. 

“Okay. This isn’t going to be something you’ll readily forgive me for but I’m sorry. I am sincerely and genuinely sorry for all of the shit I put you through for the past two years, nearly three now. What I did then was extremely shitty of me and I know now for certain you don’t deserve it. I should also tell you that I never sent anyone down to hurt you just because you hurt me. Just because you punched me in the face doesn’t mean you had to get physically and verbally abused afterwards. And y’know what? I forgive you. I forgive you for punching me in the face at Junmyeon hyung’s party. I deserved it. I’m really sorry hyung, I wish I could turn back time and not be such a shitty person to you but… as much as it seems like a great thing to do, I can’t do something like that. But this is what I can do, and I hope that you’ll forgive me. Maybe not now, but one day.” 

Baekhyun was nothing short of stunned. The last thing he expected from Sehun was an apology and he wasn’t sure if he should accept or not. What good was a measly little apology without any action for Baekhyun to actually consider forgiveness? He voiced this aloud to him. “Thanks for the apology but I don’t know if I can accept it.”

“Why not?”

“Because your actions haven’t proven to me that you’re not going to bully me anymore.”

“But I have. I mean I haven’t. I haven’t called you anything rude or mean lately, have I?”

Baekhyun thought about it. Now that he mentioned it, he realised that he was right. But Baekhyun was stubborn. “Sure, you may not have recently, but could I trust you to never say any of those words again? And to at least treat me with kindness?”

“Yes. I’ll be a better person to you.”

“Alright. How about you keep it up until the end of the term and from there I’ll see how you do. Maybe then I’ll forgive you, if you manage to not be an asshole.”

“Okay. I’ll do it.” 

And he did. After exams were over and Baekhyun finally was able to spend more time with Yixing who had stayed away from Baekhyun so they both could study well and properly, Sehun left them be. He was still annoyed by their romantic antics but he didn’t voice that annoyance anymore. And when Yixing wasn’t around, Sehun was still polite, going as far as even making breakfast for them both one morning. Well trying to. 

“What’s burning?” Baekhyun asked after he’d woken up. Sehun had been sitting on the couch, watching TV looked up when Baekhyun arrived. 

“Hmm? Burn- ah shit!” He leapt up and ran into the kitchen where he turned off the gas. The eggs he had been boiling were clean of water and the shell of the eggs were burnt. “Maybe they’re still salvageable.” He muttered, taking the little pot to the sink to let it cool under the cold water. 

“Trying to make breakfast?” Baekhyun asked as he began to make himself a cup of tea. 

“Yes. Oh- you don’t need to do that.” Sehun set down the pot and took the kettle out of Baekhyun’s hands. 

“What? Why?”

“Made you some tea already. Though it’s probably gone cold since I made it early on.”

“Y-you made me some tea?” Baekhyun was surprised. 

“Yeah. There’s nothing in it though, I barely put any effort into doing it but I did it anyways. You can add whatever you like.” Sehun handed Baekhyun his mug full of green tea. “Actually wait no, I forgot I mixed it with honey. Hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. Thank you Sehun. It was very kind of you to do this.” Baekhyun placed the mug into the microwave to warm it up. “Say… were you trying to make breakfast for the both of us?”

“Yeah… I doubt it went well at all. The eggs are probably burnt through.”

“Well… we can always try ordering some breakfast to eat since I can’t cook either.” Baekhyun suggested. 

Sehun paused. “Y’know what? That’s a smart idea. But what will we do with the eggs?”

“Let’s remove the shells and see if the eggs are actually burned. If not, we can just eat them normally but still order something. If not…”

“We’ll figure out what to do with them later.”

“Yeah.” The microwave dinged, signalling that Baekhyun’s tea was finally warm. But he left it in there as he went to work alongside Sehun, deshelling the eggs. Thankfully, there was just very faint soot marks on the egg itself from the burnt shells, something that could be easily washed away, which they did. “Wait- don’t eat them yet.” Baekhyun said. “I just thought of something. Can you hand me a knife?”

“Sure.” Sehun reached into the utensil drawer and handed Baekhyun a butter knife. He cut his egg open and found a very faint green ring around the yolk. Sehun peered over Baekhyun’s shoulder to look. “Is that normal?” He asked. 

“I-I don’t think so.” He cleared his throat. “I mean, I’ve never seen anything like it but it could maybe be normal but y’know since I haven’t seen it maybe it isn’t but-“

“Are you okay?” Sehun asked, tilting his head towards his roommate. 

“Fine! I’m fine. Maybe we shouldn’t eat these, it might not be safe.” Baekhyun said, taking both of their eggs and trashing them. After washing his hands, he grabbed his mug of tea and headed straight for the living room. 

“You got any plans today?” Sehun asked, following him. 

“No. Thankfully it’s a free Saturday for me today.” Baekhyun said, taking a seat on the couch. 

“And Yixing hyung isn’t coming over either?”

“Nope. Do you have any plans today?”

“No, I don’t have anything to do either. I’m gonna do my homework all tomorrow and leave today free.” Sehun replied.

“Sounds like a good plan even though it isn’t really a plan.” Baekhyun smiled, sipping his tea. 

“Yep. I was wondering… um do you wanna have a movie marathon with me…?” Sehun asked hesitantly. 

“You wanna watch movies with me?” Baekhyun asked. 

“Sure… I was um… well I mean… I don’t know.” Sehun scratched the back of his head. “You watch a lot of stuff with Yixing hyung and bonded with him a lot. Maybe…”

“You think that maybe we should do the same?” Baekhyun finished for him and Sehun nodded. 

“Of course, you don’t have to. We can just go about our days normally but…”

“Sure.”

“Really?”

“I’ve got nothing better to do.” Baekhyun shrugged. “A movie marathon doesn’t seem like a terrible idea.”

Sehun was happy. He brought his laptop from his room and connected it to the TV before picking a movie neither of them had seen. Then he did it again once the movie was over. And again. And once more. And after each one they talked briefly about what they saw. Made comparisons, learned new things but overall enjoyed each other’s company in silence. They watched movies across multiple genres, Sehun pleading to have horror as one of the later ones which Baekhyun didn’t like the sound of but relented nonetheless. 

That was a moment of regret. 

Baekhyun hated horror movies, of all and every kind. He hated how easily scared he got, hated how the characters in the movies were all stupid, and hated how disgusting or terrifying each person or creature looked like on screen. And that night was no different. 

He knew that a scare was about to come as the buildups it got were obvious, but even armed with that knowledge didn’t help him from screaming when the jumpscare finally came, clutching onto whatever was near him, which was always Sehun. There was a particular gory scene in the movie that made Baekhyun even more scared, covering his face in Sehun’s chest so he wouldn’t see but he could still hear and that only made him more upset. 

And all this time, Sehun let it all happen, going as far as holding Baekhyun close to him. “Shhh, it’s gonna be over soon.” He murmured into his roommates ear who only responded by shivering and tightening his grip onto him further. Sehun knew exactly how to comfort him and he did so without a second thought. He rubbed Baekhyun’s back comfortingly with one hand as his other remained around his hips. 

“Turn down the volume.” Baekhyun squeaked. 

“Why?” 

“I don’t wanna hear all the screams.” 

“Does it frighten you?”

“Too much. I hate it. Please turn it down.” 

Sehun obeyed, reaching for the remote on the coffee table and turning the volume up on accident, right when one of the character’s screams echoed throughout the room she was in. Baekhyun jumped and whined in response. “Sehun!”

“Sorry! That was my fault, I hit the wrong button on accident.” He quickly turned down the volume. “I’m sorry, I pressed the wrong button.”

“It’s okay.” Baekhyun turned to watch the movie, wincing as the scary creature advanced on a woman who tried her best to defend herself but failed. Just then, another character appeared, attacking the creature in a grotesque manner that Baekhyun couldn’t look at. The screams of the monster were faint as the volume was low but Baekhyun was still uncomfortable. Sehun noticed this and paused the movie. 

“Hey… do you wanna watch something else?” He asked. 

“Please. Anything but this.” Baekhyun said quietly. 

“Let’s watch a comedy then. I’ll finish this movie another time.” Sehun reached for his laptop and backed out of the movie, searching for a different one. Baekhyun rested his head on Sehun’s back, slowly calming down. Sehun pulled up a comedy movie and hit play.

Baekhyun finally felt comfortable with Sehun. It took him a while, but it happened gradually and Baekhyun found that he enjoyed it most when he was physically close to Sehun. But he made sure to control himself at the same time. There was a part of him that wished he didn’t have to, but he had to, whether he liked it or not. 

Baekhyun’s arms slunk around Sehun’s waist, hugging him as they watched the movie. But Baekhyun was too tired to continue to watch so he soon fell fast asleep, head resting on Sehun’s shoulder. 

Sehun was oblivious to Baekhyun sleeping on his shoulder until he heard a snore and turned to find his roommate sleeping on him. Sehun moved so he could properly look at his roommate. 

If there was one thing he could not deny, it was the simple fact that his roommate was adorable. He knew this for a while but he never spoke on it, afraid of Baekhyun’s response. But now, seeing him sleep and looking at him so closely, Sehun found him even more adorable than normal. He brushed back the hairs in front of his face, a sudden urge to kiss him arising within Sehun, but he resisted. It wouldn’t be right. Not to himself nor to Baekhyun. 

Sehun pauses the movie and then carefully lay Baekhyun down on the couch. He stood and went to Baekhyun’s dorm to grab his blanket and covered him up with it, tucking it underneath his chin. He turned off the TV and grabbed his laptop, heading to his own room. 

Nothing more happened that night. The rest of the term passed on as normally as possible, Baekhyun loosening up around Sehun and eventually being more touchy with him. He still made sure to not overdo it as he was with Yixing but he felt a little detached from him as the term came to an end. 

And then, the phone call came. It was late at night and Baekhyun had just gone to bed when his phone rang and he picked it up tiredly. “Hello?”

“Hey Baekhyun. Did I wake you?” Yixing asked. 

“Kind of but also…” Baekhyun yawned. “Not really. What’s up?”

“Well uh.. I just.. wanted to tell you that I’m leaving for China when the term ends. Going for Christmas and returning later.” He began. 

“Oh cool. That should be fun, right?” Baekhyun set his phone down to rub his eyes before picking it back up again to catch what Yixing was saying. 

“...fun yes. Actually I was going to invite you to come with me, meet my parents too.”

“Oh-“ Baekhyun suddenly was wide awake, sitting up. “Really? So soon?”

“Yeah… it felt right.”

“There must be something wrong then… because you don’t sound like you’re eager to ask me to go.” Baekhyun said after a short pause. 

Yixing sighed. “You’re good start figuring things out huh? Yes. You’re right. I was going to ask you to come with but I received a phone call from my mother this morning, telling me about the visit and about other family members and relatives and friends who are coming over as well.” 

“And..?” Baekhyun prompted.

“And well… she mentioned everyone and everything that was going to happen. And one of those things was to find… a wife for me.”

Silence. Baekhyun was surprised and he wasn’t sure of where things were going now. “Oh. So… then are you… gonna… I mean, what are you going to do?”

“I thought about it. All day today. And I went over all the scenarios, all the situations, conversations everything and none of them seemed to end positively. So I’ve decided to try something else and hope for the best with it and for you as well.”

“I’m not understanding what you’re trying to say hyung.” Baekhyun said slowly. 

“I want to apologise. This is the worst way to do this but it’s very late right now and I don’t have any other choice.”

And then it clicked. Baekhyun understood. “What do you mean you don’t have any other choice? Yixing I can’t believe you of all people would do this to me.”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Baekhyun I really am. But I don’t want to tarnish anything of my parents’ honour and reputation. I love you but if I do something out of line and that could be something detrimental to my future then I can’t do it.”

“So you decide to put your family’s honour over our relationship, over my respect?” Baekhyun snarled. Sehun, who was returning from the bathroom, overheard and went to Baekhyun’s room to check on him. 

“Baek, I’m sorry I really am. If I came back home with a male lover on my arm what would they say? They would cast me out! They wouldn’t even consider us to be a thing at all, they’d call us an abomination and ostracise us. I know this isn’t the best thing however I don’t want you to live a life of misery with me when you could be happy with someone else and I could too.”

“I would still be happy even if we were ostracised and shamed by the entire world because it would mean that I’d be with you!” 

More silence. “I’m being selfish now. I can’t do that. I don’t want to live a life like that,” Yixing finally said. 

“Well thank you _ very _ much for being honest in that matter. I hope you have a _ wonderful _ life and that you fulfill _ all _ your goals and dreams and ambitions. Don’t fucking worry about me! I’ll be fine.”

“Baekhyun! Baekhyun wait please-”

“Goodbye, goodnight and good fucking riddance you selfish bastard!” Baekhyun said cutting him off and hanging up. 

Sehun listened to it all. When Baekhyun hung up and tossed his phone far from him, he felt bad, wondering if he could do anything to comfort his roommate. “Hyung…?” Sehun said softly making Baekhyun whip his head around. 

He didn’t look so good, in fact he looked furious. “What do you want?” Baekhyun snapped. “Here to make fun of me again because I somehow can’t keep a boyfriend?” 

“No. I just was listening in, sorry about that, and now… well now I’m just wondering if you need anything.”

“Nope! I am fine. I’m totally completely one hundred percent _ fine. _ I don’t need shit.” Baekhyun replied, standing up and shoving past Sehun. He kept ranting about how he was fine and didn’t need anything while pacing about the apartment. Sehun knew that he was lying so when Baekhyun neared him again, Sehun pulled him into a hug. “Hey! Let go- let me _ go _-”

“No.” Sehun’s grip tightened and Baekhyun still struggled, trying to pry himself away from Sehun until he finally gave up. 

He looked up at his roommate, eyes sad and a huge pout on his face. “Why is it always me?” He asked, voice cracking on the last word. Sehun didn’t reply, instead tucking Baekhyun’s head into his chest, shuffling them towards Baekhyun’s bed where they both fell down. He clung onto his roommate tightly as he covered them up with the blanket, making sure they were warm. Sehun stroked Baekhyun’s head as the latter trembled in his arms, until he eventually stilled. Soon, a light snore came and Sehun knew he was asleep. Carefully he pried himself away from his roommate to take his wet shirt off and he was about to get out of bed to grab a dry shirt but Baekhyun’s grip around him only tightened, preventing him from doing that.

“Aw c’mon…” Sehun muttered, trying to loosen the grip. He failed and eventually gave up, hugging Baekhyun close again and soon falling asleep. 

The next morning Baekhyun woke up, head hurting slightly. He stretched, looking blankly around his room, thinking about his odd dream. He shook his head, trying to get up but failed to do so as there was a weight on his waist. He looked around, finding a tuft of black hair underneath the blanket. Baekhyun lifted up the blanket and was surprised to find Sehun sleeping next to him. 

And then the events of last night came to him. He sank down further under the covers, maneuvering himself to be closer to Sehun. As he wrapped his arms around him, he noted that he was shirtless and more thoughts entered his consciousness, thoughts about how he would’ve been revolted to even be in the same room as Sehun. But now he didn’t care. He craved comfort and if he was going to receive in the form of his ex-bully then so be it. 

Baekhyun was incredibly close to Sehun now, close enough to study Sehun’s face. He saw a small scar on his cheek and it was just this little thing that suddenly made him more attractive. Baekhyun knew it was a terrible time to gain a crush, especially right after a breakup, but he told himself that it wouldn’t hurt to just fawn a bit over his roommates face. And that was exactly what he did, silently studying details of Sehun’s face, fingers caressing his cheeks, being careful to not wake him up. But Sehun woke up anyways, and Baekhyun retracted his hand. “Sorry… did I wake you?” Baekhyun asked, sitting up.

“No..” Sehun yawned and stretched. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah… Yeah I did.”

“I’m… I’m sorry about last night. I mean- I didn’t do anything but… I did eavesdrop.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Baekhyun said with a wave of his hand. “I’ll… I’ll get over it.” 

“Still… And then right after it all went down we..” Sehun gestured to them being on the bed, sleeping together.

“I think it’s okay. We’re just friends, aren’t we?” Baekhyun stretched, arms reaching to his covered feet. 

“Right. Friends. Then, do you want some breakfast?” Sehun asked.

“Sure. That sounds nice. Will you order something?”

“Yeah, I gotta see if I have enough to order though…”

“I might.”

“Oh. Do you want to pay then?”

“Sure, I don’t mind.”

“Okay awesome.” 

The morning passed quietly and after they finished eating, Baekhyun excused himself to go take a shower. Sehun sat in front of the TV and watched the news, not really paying attention when there was a knock on the door. Wondering who it could be, Sehun stood and opened the door to Yixing. 

“Oh. Hello.”

“Hi Sehun, is Baekhyun inside?” Yixing asked breathlessly

“No, I’m afraid he’s not.” Sehun lied.

“He’s not?” Yixing’s shoulders drooped.

“No, he left… about an hour ago I’d say.”

“Where’d he go?” 

“No idea, he wouldn’t say. He just needed to get out.”

“Oh. Okay. Well um… when he returns do you mind um telling him I came by? And that I’ve called and texted him multiple times but… Uh that he should answer.” 

“Does he have to?” Sehun asked.

“I’m sorry?”

“I asked if he has to answer you. You broke up with him, over a fucking phone call mind you, and here you are expecting him to contact you after all that?” 

“I- I- well I just-”

“You just what? You just what, huh? Feel bad? Feel sorry?”

“Well yes-”

“Maybe you should’ve felt that before calling him last night you twat.” Sehun said, glaring at him. “Now please leave. You’re wasting my time right now.” He slammed the door shut, turning around to find Baekhyun standing in the doorway of the bathroom, staring at Sehun.

“Oh.” Sehun walked away from the door. “Did you… did he..?”

Baekhyun shook his head, following Sehun and sitting next to him on the couch. “Thanks for backing me up a bit there. I… I probably would’ve hurt him if I saw him now.”

“Still mad at him?” 

Baekhyun nodded. “I’ll probably stay a little mad until he gives a proper apology or something… but even with me saying this, I know that deep down I’m not actually mad… you know? Like… Yixing hyung is a sweetheart… He just… happened to… I mean maybe I overreacted. Got mad at him over… this whole ordeal when I shouldn’t be. Should I forgive him?”

“It’s up to you.” Sehun said. “If you wanna forgive him and just be friends or something, go ahead, I won’t stop you.”

“Okay… Should I now though? What did you tell him? I only showed up when you were telling him off.”

“I told him that you weren’t home. And I guess you didn’t have your phone with you so I couldn’t have called you or something. If you wanna say something to him, you should apologise on my behalf too or something, as I lied to him.” Sehun explained.

“Yeah, maybe I should… Okay. I’ll be back in a bit.” Baekhyun stood, going to his room to put on a pair of jeans and grabbing his phone and wallet before leaving.

“Are you gonna be gone for long?” Sehun asked.

“Just gonna go apologise then hit the corner store.”

“Ah okay. Get me some chips will you?”

“Got it. See you.” Baekhyun left the dorm and went downstairs to see if Yixing was anywhere to be found. Sure enough he was, heading back to his own dorm across campus. He ran up to him, grabbing his attention and explaining things, apologising about Sehun at the same time, before he said that he forgave Yixing and would prefer to simply stay friends which Yixing was perfectly fine with. 

Then Baekhyun left, heading to the corner store like he said he would. Everything was fine with him getting some food and drinks for himself and chips for Sehun. But as he finished paying, a small group of people he hadn’t seen in months entered the store. He was shocked, but he did his best not to show it. They thankfully hadn’t noticed him yet but he wasn’t gonna risk anything and as soon as the transaction was complete, he left the store as fast as he could but he unfortunately wasn’t fast enough.

“Hey look! If it isn’t Baekhyun. Well, well, well it has been a long time since we last met, hasn’t it?” One of Sehun’s old friends said.

“Uh.. yeah.. Haha… A few months.. At least…” Baekhyun said nervously. 

“What, are you afraid? That we’re gonna do something bad to you?” He asked. 

“Yeah… I mean no! Of-of course not. I’m not afraid of anything. I just.. I actually have to go home now. Er- I mean, back- well yeah home. Can’t stay for long.” Baekhyun stammered. 

“Aw, leaving so soon? But we just met again after so long! You can’t go away that fast, can you?”

“Well- It’s really just that I need to go… like it isn’t a choice… I’ve got things to do, it’s a really busy day today so..” Baekhyun pulled out his phone, sending a quick text to whoever he had last texted and pretended to do something else with his phone.

“That’s quite unfortunate, isn’t it? I was hoping to just have a nice conversation with you.”

“Sorry maybe another time, I really have to go now.” Baekhyun said, beginning to walk.

“Hey wait! I’ve an idea.” Sehun’s friend said, catching up with Baekhyun. “What if I walk you back to your dorm?”

“That’s not necessary, I can get there by myself, thank you for the concern though.” Baekhyun said with a tight lipped smile.

“But think about it! It would be a perfect opportunity for us to catch up, wouldn’t it? I mean, I wanna know what you’ve been up to! How you’ve been and everything.” The man had talked for so long that the rest of Sehun’s crew showed up, walking behind the two, making Baekhyun more afraid than ever before. He had no idea what he was going to do. He had a feeling that if he tried to escape, he was going to be sought after and then probably beaten up again. Trembling, he continued to walk with Sehun’s old friend who kept rambling on and on about what he’d been doing the past few months. Baekhyun wasn’t even paying attention, he was on high alert, looking behind him every once in a while but mostly looking in front of him, in hopes to find a friendly familiar face.

Right as the man next to him stopped talking to take a breath, Baekhyun caught sight of none other than Sehun. “Oops! I gotta go, bye bye!” He sprinted towards Sehun, and barreled into him, the force pushing them into an alleyway. 

“Baekhyun what-”

“Shh! Answer me this, would it be abnormal if I asked you to kiss me to save me from getting beaten up?” Baekhyun asked breathlessly.

“What- Um yes? Because you just- Yixing literally broke up with you last night, I can’t-”

“But they don’t know that do they?” Baekhyun said quickly. “So kiss me! We’ll deal with the guilt later.”

“Baekhy-” Sehun was cut off by Baekhyun pulling him down, meeting their lips together. Baekhyun made sure that Sehun’s tall self was facing the opening of the alleyway, so no one could fully be suspicious. He heard faint footsteps and his mind was racing, but he did his best to push out all the thoughts he had and instead focus on Sehun, who surprisingly was a good kisser...and someone whose lips felt awfully familiar. 

A moment later, Sehun broke them apart, both of them even more breathless. He looked behind him to find the alleyway empty, but just to make sure that it really was, he peeked out onto the street, nothing seeing anyone familiar walking by. “They’re gone.” Sehun announced, facing Baekhyun who sagged in relief.

“I thought I’d texted Yixing actually.” He said, pulling out his phone.

“I’d actually texted you a little bit ago, just to make sure you were bringing the right chips. I guess it made it so that I was the first person you texted, asking for help.” Sehun replied. 

“Yeah… that makes sense.” Baekhyun read the text before locking his phone and pocketing it. “Let’s head back to our dorms.” 

“Okay.” Sehun followed Baekhyun out of the alleyway. As they walked, Baekhyun thought about the kiss, noting multiple different things from it. First, the kiss was strikingly familiar. Second, as soon as he’d focused on the kiss, he’d felt all his worries slip away into nothingness. Third, he had a new strong urge to kiss Sehun more, right then and there. He didn’t know what to make of any of this. He didn’t think this was a good thing to do, as he’d just had a breakup but… something told him that being with Sehun was right. And that didn’t make sense either.

The two finally reached their dorm and Baekhyun tossed the bag of food and drinks onto the couch, heading to his room to change his clothes. When he returned, he found Sehun already eating the chips he’d gotten and watching TV. Baekhyun joined him, opening a can of soda.

“So who was it that you’d bumped into?” Sehun asked.

“Your old friends.” Baekhyun replied, and he turned when he heard Sehun choke and then cough.

“My- what the fuck? What were they doing near campus?”

“Beats me. One of them, who seemed like the leader of sorts, was trying to hold a conversation with me, so I texted whoever I could first, which happened to be you, for help.” Baekhyun grabbed a bag of chips, opening it and eating. “That man just never shuts up, it was basically a miracle when he did take a breath and you happened to show up at the same time, allowing me to make a run for it.”

“Okay… So why did you think that kissing me was a good idea?” Sehun then asked.

“Because then they wouldn’t get any closer and try something with me. I don’t think they saw your face - at least I’m hoping they didn’t - so having you be like… a mysterious lover or something seemed like a good idea. I do wanna apologise though, I practically forced myself onto you, or rather you onto me, even though you weren’t fully willing to.”

“It’s alright. Granted, I didn’t give verbal consent, but… I have wanted to kiss you for a while now.” Sehun said quietly.

Baekhyun, who was about to take another sip of his drink turned to face Sehun with surprise. “You’ve wanted to kiss me for a while now? Why?”

“I don’t know… I just really wanted to… and now that I did… well somehow it was something I’d done before.” Sehun replied with a shrug.

“You thought that too?”

“Yeah… Yeah, I did. It was weird because we’ve never kissed before yet…” He trailed off, eyebrows furrowing. 

Baekhyun was silent, thinking. A moment later, he spoke. “Hey… you went to.. Minseok hyung’s party didn’t you?”

“The one he had at the end of summer, right?”

“Yes, that one.”

“Yeah, I went. It was a great night for me actually.”

“Really? Why’s that?” Baekhyun asked.

“Well, I had bumped into someone and he sounded really, really cute. He was going off about how I was buff and then we kissed before going to one of Minseok’s rooms and screwing each other.” 

Baekhyun froze for a split second when Sehun was finished talking. “Call hyung.”

“What? Why?”

“Just do it, and ask him about that night.” Baekhyun ordered.

“Alright, alright…” Sehun pulled out his phone and did as Baekhyun asked, calling Minseok.

“Hey Sehun! What’s up?” Minseok answered after the third ring.

“Hey hyung… I uh…” Sehun looked at Baekhyun who gestured for him to ask. “I just wanted to ask if you… well you remember your summer party right?” Quickly, Baekhyun pressed the button to put the phone on speakers as Minseok answered.

“Yeah, of course I do.”

“And do you remember me requesting for you to figure out who the other guy I was in bed with?”

“…Yes, I remember. Do you still want to know who it is?” Minseok asked hesitantly.

“That would be great to know, yes.” Sehun replied.

Minseok sighed. “I went up after you left because I wanted to know who it was. Turns out that it had been Baekhyun, the same man you’ve been bullying for god knows how long, who was in the same bed as you, which means that you had a great time with him.” 

Sehun was surprised into silence and Baekhyun’s hunch was confirmed. “Alright, thank you hyung!” He said, hanging up for Sehun.

“I-it was you?” Sehun asked incredulously.

“I didn’t think I would’ve lost my virginity to you, but surprise! Guess I did.” Baekhyun replied.

“A-are you mad? I-I mean we were both drunk, we weren’t even in the right state of mind to do that but…”

“Why would I be mad? I had a hunch just now, and Minseok hyung confirmed it. And… to be honest, we don’t hate each other anymore, right? So why would I be mad? However, if I’d been told this before we reconciled and became friends, I would’ve been pissed. If Minseok hyung told me about this on that day itself, I don’t know what I would’ve done. But instead I got told now, when we’ve become friends, and I’m…”

“I understand all of that, but I mean… that’s all we are. Just friends. Wouldn’t you be mad that I… y’know…” Sehun trailed off.

“I’m not. I have no reason to.” Baekhyun said firmly. “Now let’s forget about this and watch a movie, yeah? We’ve got finals coming up soon but thankfully right now we’ve got a lot of free time.”

“Okay…” Sehun said, watching Baekhyun change the channel.

Finals came a couple of weeks later and Baekhyun and Sehun both studied until they nearly went insane from it. Once that was all over, the term was too. “FREEDOM!!!” Baekhyun yelled as soon as he entered his dorm after his last exam. 

“Shut up! I’m still studying!” Sehun said from his room.

“Oh- sorry! Good luck!” 

An hour later, Sehun left for his last exam and Baekhyun spent his time lounging about, being bored. His phone rang, and he picked it up as soon as he saw the ID. “Hi mom!”

“Hi sweetie! Are you coming over for the holidays?” She asked.

“That’s a good question… Should I?”

“Why shouldn’t you?”

“Well… I don’t know… I think maybe I wanna see what it’s like to spend Christmas on my own..?”

“Oh, okay. That’s fine then. Will your roommate stay with you, to keep you company?” She asked.

“I don’t know. He’s not here right now, taking his last exam, but he might. I’ll ask when he returns.” Baekhyun replied.

“Speaking of exams how did yours go?” The two talked for a long time until Baekhyun was clearly sounding very tired. “Alright, I’ll let you go now, you sound like you’re going to sleep on me.”

“Sorry… It has been a long day and it’s finally all catching up with me.” Baekhyun replied yawning.

“I understand, don’t worry about it. Rest well Baekhyunnie, I’ll call you later, okay? I love you!”

“Bye, love you too.” Baekhyun hung up and he was too lazy to get up from his chair and sleep on his bed. He tried to stay awake by scrolling through social media but failed, passing out on the chair.

He woke up hours later in the dead of the night, and no longer on his chair but in his bed. After he fully gained consciousness and was no longer wondering what century he was in, he went to check on Sehun, who was sleeping soundly in his room. Hungry, Baekhyun made some ramen, added milk to it and then sat down to eat it.

When it was morning and the two were fully awake, Baekhyun told Sehun about his phone call with his mom. “…Then she asked me if you were gonna stay for the holidays too.” 

“Oh? What for?”

“She said it was to like, keep me company and everything. Because y’know, Christmas should never be spent alone. And Yixing’s in China right now so… I’d be alone, if you leave. But I’m not trying to manipulate or guilt you into staying!” Baekhyun said quickly. “I’m just… suggesting it and wondering if you will.”

“I mean, the reason you gave your mom is a good one, to spend Christmas by yourself or at least without being with your family.” Sehun mused. “I probably will. My parents usually throw a big party every year, or at least that’s what they have been doing… Wasn’t really a fan of them, don’t think I will be for a while. This is literally a perfect opportunity for me to turn them down and stay here instead. I’m assuming the university will allow it?”

“They should. If not, we can always go crash at Minseok hyung’s place.” Baekhyun said.

“Maybe we should crash at his place anyways… I don’t wanna risk anything.” Sehun suggested.

“Sounds great to me. We should probably let him know though.” 

“Good idea. I hope he doesn’t mind.” Sehun pulled out his phone, FaceTiming Minseok. The two talked to Minseok, telling him their plan and he agreed but warned them that his own friend was gonna come over and stick around as well. The two were fine with it, thanking Minseok before hanging up. But then he called again and started interrogating them about everything and Baekhyun yelled at him eventually out of embarrassment, saying he’d tell him everything when they were at his place. With that, Minseok hung up. 

Then, the following day, packing up began, the two leaving some stuff behind though, as they were gonna come back after the holidays. “Wait so are you driving or am I driving?” Sehun asked when they were done packing.

“I didn’t drive here, I came in a taxi.” Baekhyun replied, eyes wide.

“Oh shit… Wait, then maybe we should just take a taxi to his house?”

“Of course. Wow, we’re dumb.” 

“Shut up.” Baekhyun grinned as they left campus, heading out to hail a taxi that would take them to Minseok’s place. The ride was mostly silent, Sehun sometimes showing funny things to Baekhyun on his phone. They finally reached Minseok’s house a while later, seeing an unfamiliar car in his driveway. 

Minseok still lived with his parents but it was beneficial to him as they mostly travel nowadays, leaving Minseok all alone. But he’s got a friend to keep him company every now and then, so he isn’t always lonely. And university and football practice helps keep that loneliness further at bay. He knew for sure though, that this Christmas was going to be a very good one, probably the best one he had in years. 

Sehun and Baekhyun entered the house and greeted Minseok gratefully. “Uh, my friend actually went out a while ago but he should be back soon.” Minseok said.

“That’s cool. Thanks for letting us stay though. What rooms should we take?” Baekhyun asked.

“Well, I thought about it and came to the conclusion that the two of you should stay in the very same room where you both lost your virginities.”

“I-I’m sorry _ what _? You- you’re gonna-” Baekhyun stuttered.

“Say psych right now.” Sehun was shocked himself. “You’re not really…?”

“Oh I am really. Go on. You should know exactly where it is. Maybe even try-” 

“Nope! Minseok you shut your mouth.” Baekhyun said quickly.

“It’s hyung to you.”

“Not with that attitude it’s not.”

“You wanna go?”

“Come at me!”

“Alright we’ll take the room! Just- just don’t fight you guys.”

“Well well well, look at you Sehunnie. Changed a lot haven’t you?” Minseok pinched Sehun’s cheek who swatted him away annoyed. “You still have to tell me what the hell has gone on with you two the past few months!” Minseok called out to their backs and Baekhyun simply waved a hand as he trudged up the stairs.

As they unpacked, divided the room for each other, Minseok’s friend finally arrived. The two couldn’t hear anything though as they unpacked, what they could but once they were done and headed back downstairs, they were met with a surprise. 

Minseok had his lips locked with another man with jet black messy hair, a dark blue sweater and dark blue jeans. “Well, well, well, what _ do _ we have here?” Baekhyun said loudly, interrupting them. The two jumped apart and the mystery man whirled around, further surprising Baekhyun. “Jongdae?!”

“Baekhyun!? Sehun?! What-” Jongdae looked at Minseok who was equally surprised. 

“You know them?” Minseok asked incredulous.

“I- uh yeah! I do… Um..” Jongdae looked at his former friend and bully nervously. “We used to go to the same school… All three of us.”

“There is so much you guys need to tell me, jesus christ.” Minseok said. “To the couch. Sit down. Talk all of you - but not at once!” He ordered.

“Yes sir.” Baekhyun said.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Okay… sir.” Minseok threw a decor pillow at him who caught it. “Well… Jongdae and I used to be best friends. And… I hope you don’t mind me telling this…” Baekhyun looked at Jongdae who pursed his lips.

“It’s in the past. I’m over it and…” Jongdae shrugged. “So go ahead.”

“Alright.” Baekhyun took a deep breath before telling everyone the same story he told Yixing a couple months ago, but changing some parts. “And it’s been a while - years really - since we last talked.” Baekhyun finished. Jongdae nodded. 

“I also want to apologise, hyung. For everything in the past. If I could go back in time and tell myself to stop or kick myself, I would but I can’t.”

“Hey now, no need to resort to violence.” Baekhyun said, turning to Sehun.

“Right. But still. I was an idiot, to him and to you.” 

“Still. Unlike your stupid little friends, you shouldn’t resort to violence. It’s not right.” 

“I’ll try to remember that.”

“Wait- what’s going on between you two now? Hell, how are you even talking normally to each other without insulting the other?” Jongdae asked, suspicious.

“That’s exactly what I’ve been wondering myself. Care to explain?” Minseok asked, leaning back on the couch.

“You talk.” Baekhyun said, standing up. “I’m gonna go grab some water.” And so, Sehun began to explain everything that’d gone on between him and Baekhyun the past couple of months, even adding in Minseok’s party and the events that’d happened, which had Jongdae shocked. 

“You guys _ actually _..?!” He spluttered. “No way! And you didn’t even know!? Were drunk but did it anyways?”

“Yup. Multiple times.” Sehun admitted.

“…Was it nice though?” Minseok asked. Jongdae smacked him. “What? I’m just curious!”

“Yes, it was nice.” Baekhyun replied. “But we’re only interested in each other as friends, nothing more, nothing less. Right Sehun?”

“What? Oh- yes! Yeah of course. Just friends. Speaking of friends, why were _ you _ calling Jongdae your friend?” Sehun asked, looking pointedly at Minseok.

“You introduced me as your _ friend _?!” Jongdae asked, rounding Minseok who began to stutter.

“And, you too are gay? I thought you were straight! You even said you’re absolutely not interested in men and only like big boobs and thighs!” Baekhyun added.

“Okay now that was a lie. I had to lie to keep my orientation a secret and even though you two turned out to be gay, I still didn’t think it was right to come out.” Minseok replied. “Then I thought about it in uni, but realised that if I did, I might not be welcome within my football team so I didn’t bother with that. I kept the lie going until I met Jongdae earlier this year and we became friends until he developed a crush on me and I find out because this bastard was shit at hiding it-”

“Hey!” Jongdae whined, shoving Minseok.

“What? I’m serious! You’re terrible at hiding your feelings for someone.” 

“Can confirm.” Baekhyun responded from the kitchen. Jongdae was about to throw a pillow at him but Minseok stopped him.

“Anyways, eventually he confessed and I was like “oh I know” and he was embarrassed and flustered and he looked really cute so I ended up asking him out without meaning to and ever since then, we’ve been together.” Minseok finished.

“And no one knows?” Sehun asked.

“Nope! Not a single person, except now you two do. Now that all of that’s out of the way, what do you say about some food? Because I’m starving.” 

“Should we order something?” Baekhyun suggested, walking over to the others.

“Sounds like a good idea.” Minseok ordered food as the other three all sat around the TV to watch whatever was on. The rest of the day passed uneventfully, as did the rest of the week. Minseok did leave the house to go holiday shopping with Jongdae but Baekhyun and Sehun stayed at home, either talking to each other or playing games. Baekhyun kept losing and it made him mad. 

“Hey! It’s not my fault you’re so shit at Mario Kart.” Sehun said when Baekhyun lost again. 

“I’m not bad, you’re just a distracting asshole! Rematch!”

“How about we not do that and instead play on the Wii? Wii Sports Resort specifically. Swordplay.”

“You’re on.” Baekhyun said as they exited Mario Kart, taking the CD out and replacing it with WSR. It loaded and they selected Swordplay, standing up to begin. “Wait- I need to stretch..” 

“Stretch for what? You’re just gonna move your arms.”

“Exactly! I need to be flexible enough…” Baekhyun said, reaching for the ceiling then down to his toes. Once he felt lose enough, he grabbed the WiiMote and pressed A and B so he could be included. 

The match was hard and Baekhyun kept getting too close to the screen, making him lose one of the rounds. “Stay back you peanut! You’re only gonna lose again if you keep getting too close to the screen.” Sehun said as the second round began. 

Baekhyun silently obeyed, doing his best to fight Sehun’s Mii, hitting it until it fell over and into the water. “YES! I did it!”

“You did one round, we still have a third to go. Best two out of three remember?” Sehun reminded and Baekhyun shoved him. The final round began and the two went at it. Sehun was too fast and hit Baekhyun’s Mii out of the final ring and into the water.

“Nooooooooooooo! I had it! I almost had it!” Baekhyun whined.

“Sure you did. You totally had it when you were hitting me instead of blocking my attacks.” 

“You’re an asshole.”

“You’re a terrible player and a sore loser.”

Baekhyun gasped. “You take that back!”

“Nope!”

“Why you little-” Sehun bolted out of the room, WiiMote dangling from his wrist and fumbled with taking it off and tossing it aside. Baekhyun was hot on his heels, running after him as Sehun ran down some stairs that led to a door he’d never seen before. As Baekhyun came after him he quickly opened the door and found a pool in front of him, shocking him into stopping right at the edge. Unfortunately, Baekhyun didn’t realise he’d stopped and crashed into him, sending them both into the pool. The two resurfaced, looking around them. “Since when does Minseok hyung have a _ pool _?!” Baekhyun asked shocked.

“I guess since his parents bought the house? I’m surprised he never told us about it though. It’s a pretty big pool if I’m gonna be honest.” Sehun noted.

“Yeah, you’re right about that…” Baekhyun trailed off, glancing at Sehun who looked incredibly attractive in that moment. It didn’t help that when he got out of the water, his shirt was stuck to his body, showing off his muscles. 

“See something you like?” Sehun asked, smiling mischievously when Baekhyun was startled.

“Uh- no- No of- of course… of course not…” Baekhyun made himself sink lower into the water, looking away. Sehun dived into the water, and appeared right in front of him, making him jump. 

“Are you sure? Do I not look attractive while I’m drenched?” Sehun asked.

“N-no not r-really..” Baekhyun stuttered, backing away as the younger cornered him. “What are you doing?” He asked nervously.

“Teasing you. Isn’t it obvious?”

“I don’t like it. Stop that.” Baekhyun said, pushing Sehun away. He swam away, to the opposite side of the pool. 

“Oh there’s something pretty cool over here, come check it out! It’s shiny too.” Sehun said as soon as he turned around. 

“Ooh, really?” Intrigued, Baekhyun swam over to Sehun who waded aside to let Baekhyun see. “Where is it? I don’t- ah! Sehun! What are you _ doing _?!” 

Sehun had wrapped his arms around Baekhyun’s waist, burying his face into his neck. “Things I’ve wanted to do for a while now.” Sehun replied, leaving kisses that made Baekhyun shiver. 

“S-stop that.” Baekhyun said weakly and Sehun obeyed. “Wait- I- I didn’t think you’d actually-” He stammered, turning around to face Sehun who was looking at Baekhyun with a hungry look in his eyes. 

“Has anyone ever told you how adorable you are?” Sehun asked.

“Um- yes. Many times in fact. You’re not the first person to tell me so.”

“But has anyone ever said it out of actual affection?” 

Baekhyun paused, thinking. “I don’t think so no…” He trailed off, and Sehun inched closer to him. 

“I’ve had a thing for you for a while now… did you know?” Sehun asked, tilting his head.

“No. I mean, considering you were my bully for so long… I would’ve laughed at the idea.” Baekhyun replied. “Or thrown up.”

Sehun chuckled. “I didn’t like you at first, when I first started to be rude and shitty to you. But through that I noted how nice you were as a person to others… sometimes also being funny, but also smart too. Somewhere along the line, I caught feelings, but because I’m an idiot and because I was too deep into being your bully, I couldn’t bring myself to stop. Pretty stupid huh?” 

“You don’t say. That’s pretty toxic too. But… I guess maybe it’s nice to know? Because you never said too many rude things… or beat me up… but I did this year and I want to apol-” Baekhyun was cut off by Sehun kissing him.

“Don’t.” He whispered against his lips. “You don’t need to be sorry about that. I deserved it.”

“No! No, Sehun you did not and you do not deserve that at all.” Baekhyun said quickly, moving away a little. “I was mad at you and I expressed that anger through punching you and now that things have changed I regret it a lot. I shouldn’t have done it.” He cupped Sehun’s face. “I want to apologise for it, so let me.”

“You can do that by kissing me… maybe I’ll forgive you.” Sehun said slyly.

Baekhyun’s eyes widened but he leaned forward again, kissing Sehun. 

It felt right. That’s all Baekhyun knew, that kissing Sehun felt right and no matter how many times he’d do it, he knew it would always feel right. 

Neither of the two could keep their hands off of each other, removing each other’s shirts and tossing them aside. Sehun reached for Baekhyun’s belt when he spoke. “Wait- wait Sehun we can’t-” he said.

“Why not?”

“We’re in a pool! That would be so unsanitary if we-”

“Then do you want to go upstairs?”

“That’s the better idea but we don’t have any towels to dry off…” 

“We can be fast-”

“We could trip and fall, I don’t want you to get hurt.” 

“How about we get rid of as much water here as we can then make our way upstairs and we clean up later? Minseok and Jongdae hyung won’t be back for a couple more hours.” Sehun suggested.

Baekhyun bit his lip before nodding. “Okay, but we have to get rid of as much water as possible.” The two got out of the pool, squeezing as much water out of their clothes as they could before heading upstairs. Baekhyun was slowly losing the urge to kiss Sehun but he himself had no plans to, for as they neared the bathroom to grab towels to dry off, Sehun closed and locked the door behind him, engulfing them into darkness and pulling Baekhyun towards him. “Sehun!” 

“What? I just-”

“I understand but we need to get dry!”

“Do we really have to now, when we’re only going to be sweating again anyways?” Sehun asked.

“You have a point but- mmf!” Sehun was kissing him again, turning them around to pin Baekhyun against the door. As Sehun made his way down Baekhyun’s neck, he spoke. “It’s- it’s gonna be harder- ah! _ Sehun! _” He whined when the younger bit his neck. “As I was saying- it’s going to be harder to take off our pants if we’re not dry!”

“It’d take hours for these to dry hyung.” Sehun pointed out. “What’s wrong? Do you not want to do this?”

“I do but I- I don’t know.” Baekhyun sighed. “I’m more of a cuddler you know.” 

“We can always cuddle after.” Sehun said. 

“I hate how you always have solutions to my attempts in avoiding this.”

“If you don’t want to do it, we won’t do it. I’m not gonna force you, that would be gross.”

“I want to do it.” Baekhyun whispered. “Maybe I’m just really scared of being caught by those two…”

“I told you, they won’t be back for a while. We can do it, and pretend nothing ever happened.”

“That’s even worse! I-I don’t want to- Oh forget it.” Baekhyun said, kissing Sehun.

“Are you sure?” Sehun asked breaking away.

“_ Yes _, I’m one hundred percent sure.” Baekhyun kissed him again, and Sehun’s hands got to work on his pants, pulling them down as much as he could. The two struggled a little, Baekhyun giggling about it, but as soon as Sehun grabbed him, his giggles turned into whines. He began to stroke him and Baekhyun clung onto him, whines growing louder. “Ah- ah- Sehun-” He whined adorably.

“Yes? Do you need anything?”

“Just for you to- to go faster.” He responded breathlessly.

“Yes sir.”

“D-don’t call me that!” Baekhyun didn’t know what it was, but doing all of this in the dark was somehow more exhilarating than when they’d done it drunk. He felt wonderful, elated, better than he had ever felt while kissing his ex, which was all he ever did with him. 

Sehun stroked him faster, kissing Baekhyun simultaneously to muffle the moans and whimpers. Eventually Baekhyun came into Sehun’s hand, trembling the entire time before shuddering and leaning onto Sehun for support. “That was nice, wasn’t it?” Sehun asked quietly.

Baekhyun nodded in response. “It may be better if we actually do it like we did for the first time…” He said, a little breathless.

Sehun hummed in agreement, leaving a kiss on Baekhyun’s temple, and feeling a little odd now, as he thought about the past again. 

The two dried and cleaned up, agreeing at least for then to act as if nothing had happened, keeping that moment in the bathroom a secret. Later that night though, Sehun couldn’t keep his thoughts away. “Baekhyun- hyung. Hyung? Hyung, are you awake?” He asked Baekhyun.

“Mmrghh- w-what? What’s-” Baekhyun yawned. “What’s going on?”

“I- I just want to ask you something.”

“What’s on your mind?” 

“Is- do you think what we’re… or what we did earlier was right?”

“What? Leaving dessert on Minseok’s chair as a prank?”

“No- not that.” Sehun laughed nervously. “I mean before… in the bathroom.”

“Oh. Why wouldn’t it be right?”

“I mean… you broke up with Yixing hyung just two weeks ago, give or take… and not even a week later we kissed… and today…” Sehun trailed off. “I don’t know. I keep thinking about how wrong it is… and how we literally hated each other’s guts before.”

“Sehunnie… that was the past.” Baekhyun said, wrapping his arms around the younger one. “We’re in the present now, where a lot of things have changed between us. And I don’t know about you, but I like these things we’re doing. I like us as this. I didn’t think I ever would, we both know I would’ve gagged if someone told us that this is what we’d become in the future. But times have changed. We’ve changed our relationship with each other and… maybe we’re not official yet, but we’re definitely friends who have feelings for each other.”

“Yeah… I guess you’re right.”

“So what we did is fine. It’s okay. Forget about the past. That’s done and over with. Right now, we’re friends… maybe with benefits, maybe not. Probably not, but still.”

“Okay. I can do that. I think anyways.” 

“Of course you can. You can do anything. It’s time to sleep though, I’m really tired.”

“Most of that is from earlier today though isn’t it?”

“Mmm. What about it?”

“Nothing. Goodnight.” He wasn’t sure if Baekhyun could see it, but he was smiling.

“Goodnight Sehunnie baby.”

“I’m not a baby!”

“You are to me. You could even be my baby.”

“Maybe later.”

“Goodnight.”

“Night.”

As the holiday continued, Sehun only fell harder for Baekhyun and vice versa. Even though they were totally fine with screwing each other, they were still incredibly awkward around each other, something that irritated both Jongdae and Minseok. 

“Ugh, will you two just fuck already!?” Minseok said after another awkward interaction between them.

“We have.” Baekhyun snapped. “Have you forgotten?”

“No. Because you did it my fucking room. But seriously, this sexual tension between you is too damn strong and incredibly annoying.”

“I have to agree. If you two don’t get together soon…”

“We will. We’re just not ready yet. Give it a couple of days.” Baekhyun replied, stretching. “I’m gonna go take a nap.”

“You literally woke up an hour ago!”

“So? I’m tired. Nap time! See you dweebs later. Bye Sehunnie~” 

“Oh- bye hyung.” Once Baekhyun was out of sight, Sehun turned towards Minseok. “What?”

“You are so fucking whipped.” 

“Can I help it? He’s so… I don’t even know. Everything. I think I should get him something special for Christmas.”

“Don’t you already have something?” Jongdae asked.

“Yeah but that’s specifically as friends…”

“Oh. I see. Okay, you do you.” 

“I’ll be back later. See you guys.” Sehun stood, and quickly left the house.

“What’s he doing?” Minseok asked Jongdae.

“Getting a special present for Baekhyun. I think that’s cute. Maybe he’ll even ask him out on Christmas.”

“Ooh, you think? That would definitely be a great present.”

“Right? I hope my hunch is right~ If it is, you should kiss me.”

“I was gonna anyways.” Minseok said, leaning in.

Sehun went shopping for a few hours, unsure of just what to get Baekhyun. He wanted it to be special, meaningful and pleasant, and that it couldn’t be something completely random. “If only I had enough money…” Sehun muttered, staring at expensive, nice looking watches. “Maybe in the future… Would he be mad if I gave him a cheap watch? I hope not… doesn’t seem to have high standards… which is always nice…” Sehun kept muttering to himself, as he went to a different store that sold a variety of things, including stuffed animals. He found one of a cute dog that looked incredibly like Baekhyun. Picking it up, he looked at it and then began to search for another one, finding a fluffy white stuffed dog. “It doesn’t look like me, but this will have to do anyways.” He said as he headed to the register to purchase both stuffed animals. 

Christmas arrived and the four spent their morning opening presents from each other while drinking hot cocoa. The rest of the day was spent watching cheesy romantic Christmas movies with the occasional comedy ones. When night fell and everyone bid each other goodnight, Sehun took some time to stay downstairs, pretending to do something else as he grabbed the bag with the stuffed dogs. 

Baekhyun thankfully was still awake when Sehun reached their room. “Oh good you haven’t slept yet.” He said, closing the door behind him.

“Why would I? It’s too early for that.” Baekhyun said.

“Right, good point.”

“Watcha got there?” Baekhyun asked, eyeing the bag in Sehun’s hand. 

“Um…” Sehun shuffled over to the bed, sitting down in front of Baekhyun. “Another gift for you.”

“Another?! But why?”

“Because… I um…” Sehun turned pink as he pulled out the white stuffed dog.

“Oh my gosh it’s so cute! Is this for me?” 

“Yeah, that one’s for you.” Sehun handed Baekhyun the dog before pulling out the other one, a corgi. “And this one is for me. My intention was to buy it and that’s supposed to somehow look like me and this one kinda like you… I thought it was a good idea but now… Now I think it’s kinda stupid and ridiculous and I wish I’d gotten you something better.”

“No! No, Sehunnie, this is perfect. I love it, thank you so much!” Baekhyun hugged the dog tightly. “This is so sweet of you, you’re such an angel. Thank you.” 

“Are you sure though? I mean I can always return and-”

“No! Don’t do that. There’s no need. I want it, I’m keeping it.” Baekhyun said firmly.

“Okay. And.. You’re happy with it?”

“Yes, one hundred percent. It’s so cute. I’m gonna name it Hunnie, since you said it’s supposed to look like you even though it doesn’t entirely but it’ll remind me of you anyway. Thank you.” Baekhyun scooched forward to engulf Sehun into a hug, which was returned. 

“I’m glad you like it then.” Sehun murmured. “I- I should also tell you.. Um…” Baekhyun broke away.

“What is it?”

“Honestly speaking you should be the one asking me actually.” Sehun said after a moment.

“…How would I ask you… whatever it is you want me to ask you if I don’t even know what you’re talking about?” Baekhyun asked.

“Well. It should be maybe a little obvious?”

“It’s not..? I’m so confused right now.”

“I’m saying that you should ask me because you’re older than me. Is that a good enough hint?”

“What…” Baekhyun stared at him, confused.

Sehun sighed, mustering up the courage to ask instead. “Baekhyun hyung, would you like to go out on a date with me tomorrow?”

Instantly, Baekhyun’s confusion turned into surprise. “Y-you want- a date- you wanna go on a- on a _ date _ with me?!” He spluttered.

“Yes. It’s actually the main reason why I bought you that stuffed dog, and this one for myself.”

Baekhyun continued to stare at him when it finally dawned on him. “You want to be my boyfriend?” He squeaked. 

“Finally! You got it.” Sehun said clapping mockingly and Baekhyun shoved him.

“Why did you just outright say that?!” He cried. “You could’ve just asked yourself instead of pulling the ‘you’re older than me so you should ask’ card!”

“Well I didn’t want to okay!? Stop hitting me!”

“Not until you actually ask me!”

"No! You should!"

“Oh alright. Sehun will you go out with me and be my boyfriend?”

“Yes! I’d never thought you’d ask. Ow!” Sehun rubbed his arm. 

“Well since that’s done. What now? Oh- oh wait.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t have an extra gift for you.” Baekhyun pouted. 

“Oh that’s okay. Don’t worry about it, you don’t need to get me a gift.”

“But it doesn’t seem right! I have to give you a gift because the one I gave you isn’t enough!” 

“But it is hyung! Seriously don’t-“

“Wait!” Baekhyun scrambled out of bed, taking the stuffed dogs with them. “Will you turn off the lights please?” He asked as he placed the two plushies into a drawer. 

“Uh… okay?” Sehun got up and turned off the lights as Baekhyun made his way to the window, pulling the curtains shut. 

“Okay…” Baekhyun’s eyes adjusted to the darkness as he walked to Sehun who was still at the light switch. “This isn’t the best gift but… honestly I think it’s better than nothing.” He murmured, pulling Sehun down to kiss him. 

Sehun kisses him back, still a little bit confused as to what Baekhyun was thinking about doing. And then, as soon as he felt a hand well below him, he understood. 

Baekhyun massaged him through his sweats, still kissing him. Eventually, his hand went down the sweats and boxers, stroking him with a gentle pace. Sehun removed his pants and boxers, moaning into Baekhyun’s mouth. He seemed to know what he was doing as Baekhyun slowed his pace down, breaking away from Sehun so he could hear him moan. The younger tried his best to keep it down but wasn’t successful as the feeling of Baekhyun’s hands on him were too pleasant to be ignored. He moved to Sehun’s neck, finding a sensitive spot to leave a mark on and multitasking and increasing his pace. As soon as he finished leaving a hickey, Sehun came, moaning and groaning. 

“Was that a nice gift?” Baekhyun asked, his free hand going around him. 

“Y-yes.. but I want more. I want you inside me.”

“Oh? More? That wasn’t enough?”

“That wasn’t enough at all- please hyung I just-“

“Alright, alright. Turn around for me then, and take off your shirt.” Baekhyun ordered softly. Sehun obeyed, turning around and taking his shirt off, fully bare. “Good… hold on one second.” He walked back towards the bed and went through Minseok’s nightstand, finding a bottle of lube. As he returned to Sehun, Baekhyun put some lube on his fingers, and then lightly touched Sehun who shivered and whimpered. Though Baekhyun was shorter than Sehun, he had no problem leaving small kisses on his back to calm him down before inserting two fingers into him. Sehun yelped, covering his mouth and whined into his hand as Baekhyun whispered to him. “Shhh… relax… stay calm for me, okay?” When Sehun nodded, Baekhyun began to pump his fingers into Sehun, keeping the pace slow and steady. “Let me know when you either want another finger or for me to go faster.”

“O-okay…” Sehun said meekly. 

The actions continued and Sehun eventually asked for another finger, and later for Baekhyun to pick up the pace which he did. And even though Sehun was enjoying this, he wasn’t fully satisfied. “Hyung…” he whined. “I want you inside me… not just your fingers.” 

“I know.. I’m getting there. In fact… actually you might be ready. Be patient and go over to the bed.” Baekhyun ordered, pulling his fingers out. Sehun went, sitting on the bed as Baekhyun took off his own clothes. “Aw look at you. All prepped and pretty for me, aren’t you?” Baekhyun said sweetly as he grabbed the bottle of lube. “You’re so gorgeous.” He murmured once he was near Sehun, running his hands up and down his body. “Pretty face… pretty body… pretty butt… prettiest cock…” As he listed off everything, he ran a hand over each part, hand caressing his face, then torso, moving down to his ass and then forward to his sensitive dick that made Sehun let out another whimper. 

“That feels nice…” he mumbled. 

“Does it?” Baekhyun asked, touching him again, fingers very lightly caressing him. 

“Y-yeah… it really does.” 

“Good. Now get on your knees.” He ordered and Sehun did so, getting on his knees, his butt to Baekhyun. Baekhyun lubed himself up and did a couple of quick strokes so he would be hard before positioning himself. “Are you ready Sehun?” He asked, his hands going to his waist. 

“Yes. I’m ready.” Sehun replied. Baekhyun slowly inserted himself into him, making the latter moan loudly, only for it to be muffled by Sehun burying his face into a pillow. Baekhyun began to thrust in and out of Sehun a moment later, his pace steady. Eventually, Sehun told him to go faster, and Baekhyun obeyed, grabbing the younger’s hips and thrusting faster and harder into Sehun who was moaning into the pillow. “Ah fu-uck- hyung-” Sehun whined.

Baekhyun didn’t respond, simply slowing down his pace to lean forward and leave kisses on Sehun’s back, placing multiple down his spine. He shivered in response, a small whimper escaping him. “It feels good doesn’t it?” Baekhyun whispered.

“Y-yes- you feel good in me.” Sehun replied shakily. “Please, d-don’t stop.”

“I don’t plan to.” And with that, Baekhyun began to thrust faster into him again, hands running on the sides of his body, reaching down to stroke Sehun, making him cry out of sensitivity. Multitasking, Baekhyun thrusted and jerked Sehun off, messily bending down to leave kisses on him. Finally, both of them came, Baekhyun into Sehun and Sehun into his hand. Breathless and sweaty, Sehun fell onto what he’d leaked out and Baekhyun fell on top of him. “W-would it be a bad i-idea to take a shower now?” He asked as he pulled out.

“No, I don’t think so…” Sehun replied. “We’d just have to be fast is all. But.. what about the bedsheets?”

“Maybe Minseok will have a spare…” Baekhyun didn’t want to get off of Sehun but forced himself to. “Will you… um…” 

“Will I what?” Sehun asked, slowly sitting up, chest still heaving.

“Shower with me?” Baekhyun asked, his dominant demeanour diminishing.

“Sure. It’ll save time and water anyways.” Sehun stood, towering over Baekhyun and made his way to the bathroom, the latter following him quietly. 

The water was hot and comfortable, and Baekhyun’s clingy self emerged as well. He pulled Sehun close, kissing him without a second thought, letting the water rain down on them. After the shower, they were surprised to find that the bedsheets had been changed which only made them assume that Minseok and Jongdae both had overheard them and while they’d been showering, Minseok changed the bedsheets as fast as he could. But the two were thankful, snuggling up and cuddling, not caring that they were both completely naked. 

And when Baekhyun woke up before Sehun the following morning, he felt content for the first time and hopefully not the last. Perhaps Sehun was the one for him - or maybe he would just be a simple boyfriend to have, and a friend to remember. But in that moment, Baekhyun knew that the rest of the year and the next three years to come weren’t going to be bad at all.

High school had been difficult. That much anyone could tell, at least if Baekhyun told people his story. First two years, fine, whatever. Junior and senior year however? The absolute _ worst _. Baekhyun thought it was a miracle that he was even alive. But that was all in the past now, his future was what mattered most now and it held him going to Kyung Hee University. 

And his college years was going to include his new boyfriend, Oh Sehun, and a couple of great friends. It was all Baekhyun needed.


End file.
